JPWO2006028154A1 - Information management system, information management method, information management program and recording medium thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

Independent information registered in the database is displayed as an object by a method in which a sphere (“know sphere”) is used as a display surface and the inside of a circle on the Riemann surface defined on the sphere is defined as a group. Each displayed object serves as an index for that information. You can access that information by clicking on this object. Various operations such as grouping, introduction of objects, and fusion can be easily performed with a mouse, such as input/output/deletion/registration/correction, and operations from network devices. Further, the size of the “know ball” can be enlarged or reduced by scaling, and the display limit can be maintained at a high level. The objects on the "know ball" are standardized to the "know ball card" and created as a database that can be easily used.

Description

  The present invention belongs to the technical field of a main display device capable of collectively displaying information of electronic devices and users on a network and executing an electronic conference, and database software for storing the information. That is, it relates to groupware for a network database (electronic conference room).

  Further, the present invention belongs to a technical field related to a software standard for defining and publicizing a language environment related to the above database software.

  Further, the present invention belongs to a software technical field related to a display technology for displaying externalized information (outline of information) on a movable spherical surface that develops in a virtual three-dimensional space.

  The present invention also belongs to the software technical field that enables bidirectional input/output in real time in a multithread environment.

  Memory is the cornerstone of intellectual production that contains human experience and knowledge, and we routinely leave fragments of our memory in the form of memos, diaries, photographs and videos. The externalized memory as a document or an image (externalized memory) will be a great help in recalling the memory or objectively observing the memory in the future.

  Externalized memory is also used as a communication tool to explain one's memory to others and share memories with others, as typified by album photos (Kiyomi Yamashita, Hisao Nojima, "Proposal of electronic mini-album for memory communication", Human Interface Symposium 2001 Proceedings, pp. 261-264, 2001.).

  Particularly in recent years, personalized external storage has become widely available as Web diary and blog contents. The motivation for continuously creating such a web diary is both the utility of self-clarification and the utility of interpersonal relationships such as promoting interpersonal relationships (Kawaura, Y. Bustle of communication", CMCC Study Group 2nd Symposium Proceedings, pp. 37-44, 1999.). That is, it is considered that the externalized memory is a fragment of one's own memory and at the same time has the aspect of being motivated to be stored by being able to be presented as content.

  Content generally refers to a work represented by text, still images, audio, moving images, or a combination thereof, and can be said to have been created on the assumption that it will be viewed by anyone, including the author himself. . Here, it is considered that the externalized memory of an individual can be easily communicated to oneself in the future or transmitted to society by being left as content.

  By the way, in order to accumulate the intellectual production of an individual (or society), it is necessary to accumulate the experience of the individual (or society) as a huge record card, diary, etc. so that it can be viewed and analyzed. Tadao, "Technology of intellectual production", Iwanami Shoten, 1969.). It has been difficult for conventional information communication technology to store such a huge amount of information (memory card, diary, etc.) so that the information can be viewed and analyzed.

  However, in recent years, due to the digitization of contents, it has become possible to expect huge amounts of information to be stored, browsed and analyzed. Realization of can be expected. In other words, in order to support a person's intellectual activities in a sustainable and sustainable manner, a method of accumulating and managing a person's life experience on a computer is indispensable.

  Kaoru Misaki, Yasuyuki Kono, "Remembering Houses-Reviving Past Memories by Continuous Slide Browsing of 550,000 Digital Scan Images", IPSJ Interaction 2004, pp.129-136, 2004., And Gemmell, J., Bell, G., Lueder, R., Drucker, S., and Wong, C., "MyLifeBits: Fulfilling the Memex Vision", ACM Multimedia '02, pp. 235-238. Describes a system that accumulates a person's life-long memory (a large amount of externalized memory).The above-mentioned "remembering house" technology accumulates what an individual sees or writes as a still image, The memory recall activity is activated by displaying the slide show on the display embedded in the house. The technique of "MyLifeBits: Fulfilling the Memex Vision" realizes search and visualization of externalized memory by storing personal memory as multimedia data in a database. In addition, it is also possible to create and browse story-type content using externalized storage.

  Here, as a method of accumulating the externalized memory, conventionally, a method of accumulating temporally and a method of accumulating spatially can be considered.

  The method of performing temporal accumulation is, for example, the SECI model of Nonaka et al. (Ikujiro Nonaka, Hirotaka Takeuchi, “Knowledge Creation Company”, Toyo Keizai Inc., 1996.) or W-type problem solving model of Kawakita (Jiro Kawakita, The explanation can be made with reference to "Continuation and Idea Method", Chuokoron Shinsha, 1970.).

  For example, when an album is used as a communication tool, it can be said that the album activates communication and also acts as a trigger for creating new photographs. In other words, in other words, albums are contents and photographs are content fragments. Accumulation of externalized storage is promoted by circulating the process of content construction and the process of externalizing content fragments activated by content browsing. It is thought to be done.

  The above-mentioned "knowledge-creating company" and "continuation and idea-making" technologies perform such cyclical intellectual production.

  In the SECI model, knowledge is created by constant conversion between subjective and experiential knowledge that is difficult to verbalize, which is called tacit knowledge, and objective, clearly verbalizable knowledge, which is called formal knowledge. If you apply this to the example of an album, disjointed photos are pieces of content accumulated in an implicit form that only you can understand, and an album is a relatively formal content to explain to others. I can think.

  In the W-type problem-solving model, we operate a set of pieces of paper on which ideas are recorded to proceed with problem solving, receive feedback from sentences summarizing the results and oral presentations, and obtain pieces of new ideas (this is especially cumulative). Called the KJ method). A content fragment is a piece of paper referred to here, and sentences and oral presentations can be regarded as content.

  In addition, as a circulation type external memory construction support system, there is CoMeMo-Community of Hirata et al. See Journal of Intelligence Society, Vol. 16, No. 2, pp. 225-233, 2001.). CoMeMo-Community is a system for sharing knowledge in a community, and is capable of accumulating, as its own externalized memory, feedback obtained from another person's externalized memory visualized on a Web browser.

  Furthermore, the inventors of the present invention have so far developed EgoChatII (Hidekazu Kubota, Toyoaki Nishida, “Creative Dialogue Generation Using Multiple Agents Using Past Remarks of User”) in the form of developing CoMeMo-Community, electronic The Institute of Information and Communication Engineers, vol.J84-DI, No.8, pp.1222-1230, 2001., EgoChatIII (Hidekazu Kubota, Sadao Kurohashi, Toyoaki Nishida, "Division Agent Using Knowledge Card", The Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers, "Software Agent and Special Issue on its Applications," vol. J86-DI, No. 8, pp. 600-607, 2003.) The alter-ego agent is a conversation agent that represents an individual's externalized memory, and can talk with the user on behalf of the person based on the accumulated externalized memory of the person.

  EgoChatII is a system that supports user's feedback acquisition by using conversational expressions as a presentation method of externalized memory. In addition, EgoChatIII makes it possible to create story-type content composed of images and reading voices by describing externalized memory using a card-type content fragment called a knowledge card, and via a question answering engine. This is to support feedback acquisition for both the user and the user.

  By the way, the inventors of the present invention applied the above EgoChatIII to two lecture communities, and as a result, 263 of knowledge cards composed of a total of about 2300 knowledge cards were operated during 3 months and 5 months of operation, respectively. The stories have been accumulated (see Hidekazu Kubota, Toyoaki Nishida, “Content Management System Mediated by Alternate Agents”, Proceedings of the 18th Annual Conference of the Japanese Society for Artificial Intelligence, pp. 2C2-07, 2004). From this, it can be easily predicted that the long-term accumulation of externalized memory will be enormous.

  Therefore, handling a large amount of externalized memory as it is is a task that has a high cognitive load on humans, and a large amount of external memory is required in the preceding stage in order to perform an intellectual activity using an idea support or a problem solving support system. It is necessary to organize computerized memory and realize a work environment with a low cognitive load on the user.

  In general, the spatial arrangement is indispensable for handling a large quantity. The spatially arranged objects can be overlooked and the information arrangement can be easily grasped by being assisted by the physical sensations such as front, back, right, and left. Also, it can be said that the first principle of organizing is to determine the place where things are stored, and it can be said that it is important to decide the arrangement method for organizing externalized memory.

  Compared to the ones arranged by others, it seems easier to remember where the ones placed in the room are, even if they are messy. Similarly, even in externalized memory, it is thought that techniques that support information placement based on one's own policy can increase implicit clues for memory recall.

  Therefore, it is preferable to perform spatial storage as a method of storing a large amount of externalized storage.

  In order to search information spatially, it is necessary to have zooming technology that enables the user to have a bird's-eye view of the entire information and focus on the information of interest (Kenichi Okada, "Information Creation Support through Collaborative Work", Iwanami Course Multimedia informatics 9 Creation and design of information (Makoto Nagao et al.), Chapter 3, pp.115-164, Iwanami Shoten, 2000.). The problem of spatialization of a huge amount of information is the constraint imposed by the size of the display, and many methods have been proposed for zooming only the necessary information within a limited area (eg, , Furnas, GW, "Generalized fisheye views", Human Factors in Computing Systems CHI'86 Conference Proceedings, pp. 16-23, 1986., Roberts, S., D., G.W. K., "Cone Trees: Animated 3D Visualizations of Hierarchical Information", Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Human Factors, B.H.B. J. D., "Pad++: A Zooming Graphical Interface for Exploring Alternate Interface Physics", ACM UIST'94, 1994. for Visualizing Large Hierarchies", Proceedings of ACM CHI'95 Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, 1995., Hidekazu Shiozawa, Haruhiko Nishiyama, Atsushi Matsushita, "Information-view of Natto". See Academic Journal, Vol. 38, No. 11-024, pp. 2331-2342, 1997.).

  The difference between information placement and zooming is that the former decides the long-term placement of information and the latter gives a temporary bird's eye view and focus of information. It is necessary to prepare a space with sufficient space for arranging information in the long term, and to enable systematic arrangement by users. On the other hand, in order to perform a bird's-eye view and focus of a space having a space, the space is scaled (linear zooming) (the above-mentioned “Pad++: A Zooming Graphical Interface for Exploring Alternate Interface Physics”) and distorted arrangement of information (non-linear zooming). (The above "Generalized fisheye views" or "A Focus+Context Technology Based on Hyperbolic Geometry for Visualization Large Hierarchies" is required).

  In addition, as a method of arranging information, a conventional workscape (Joseph M. Ballay, "Designing Worksheets, Incidents of the inferiority of the inferior pacificance of the inferior pacificance of the continents of the continents of the United States of America)" has been conventionally used. .), Web Forger (Card, SK, Robertson, GG, York, W., "The WebBook and the Web Forum: an informationWhere on WF). Factors in computing systems: common ground, pp. 111-117, 1996.), Data Mountain (Robertson, G., Czerwinski, M., Larson, K., Robbins, D.i. . M.V, "Data mountain: using spatial memory for document management", Proceedings of the 11th annual ACM symposium on User interface software and technology (UIST'98), use the space of pp.153-162,1998) and the like. The technology related to document management has been proposed.

  It is desired to externalize and store various types of information contents that are used for a long period of time, such as a memorandum of oneself and contents used for communication with a third party. With the current background technology, these externalization technologies can be stored and used permanently, but there exists a basic technology for that purpose.

  Furthermore, in modern society where advanced use of network environments has become possible, it is desirable to disseminate these technologies in a more user-friendly form even as a working environment or recording environment for a specific purpose group. There is.

  In addition, software that can be used as a common access system, a common database, and a common conferencing system by using models for solving such problems and standardizing the contents listed therein, and enlarging each storage capacity and display capacity Construction of a system is desired. Furthermore, it is desired to build a basic technology that does not become obsolete for a long time by using standardized and open hardware and software, based on a design concept that emphasizes portability on a network.

  The above-mentioned method of accumulating externalized memory temporally requires work that has a high cognitive load on humans when dealing with a large amount of externalized memory, and intellectual activities using an idea creation support and problem solving support system. In order to do this, it is necessary to organize a large amount of externalized memory in the previous stage to realize a work environment with a low cognitive load on the user.

  Therefore, a method of spatially accumulating externalized memory can be considered, but in this case, it is necessary to establish an information allocation method and a zooming method suitable for a large amount of externalized memory.

  As a conventional method of arranging information, the above-mentioned "Designing Workscape: an interdisciplinary experience", "The Webbook and the webpage of an informa- tion of an informa- tion of the information that is not available" is mentioned. Although there is a technique, these documents discuss only a space in which up to about 100 documents can be arranged, and cannot be applied to the accumulation of a large amount of externalized memory.

  In order to be able to place a large amount of externalized memory in a space, it is possible to reduce the size of the information that is placed in order to make effective use of the limited space and zooming technology that allows a bird's eye view of the entire space. Needs scaling.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object thereof is to provide an information management system (external storage construction system), information management method, and information management suitable for storing and managing a large amount of external storage. To provide a program and its recording medium.

  In order to solve the above problems, an information management system of the present invention includes a display unit that displays an image, a control unit that controls the image displayed on the display unit, and a storage unit that stores a plurality of content information. An information management system, comprising: an image showing the content information stored in the storage means, displayed on the display means, wherein the control means displays the three-dimensional sphere image on the display means and shows the content information. An image is displayed on the spherical surface of the three-dimensional sphere image.

  In order to solve the above problems, the information management method of the present invention is an information management method of storing content information and displaying an image showing the stored content information, and displaying a three-dimensional spherical image. An image showing the stored content information is displayed on the spherical surface of the three-dimensional spherical image.

  According to the above-described information management system and information management method, it is possible to arrange content information by taking advantage of spatial cues such as depth and left and right of a three-dimensional spherical image. We know the shape of the earth well, and the position on the sphere can be easily grasped as the latitude and longitude. Therefore, the three-dimensional spherical image is particularly suitable as an information arrangement space using a three-dimensional depth sensation. .

  The information management program of the present invention causes a computer to execute the processing of the control means in the above-mentioned information management system.

  By making a computer read these programs, the processing of the control means in the information management system of the present invention can be realized by the computer.

  Further, by recording these programs in a computer-readable recording medium, it becomes possible to easily store and distribute the programs. Further, by reading this recording medium, the processing of the control means in the information management system of the present invention can be executed by the computer.

It is a conceptual diagram of the spatiotemporal memory model used by the information management system concerning one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the display screen in the information management system concerning one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the content fragment used with the information management system concerning one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of a display of the content fragment in the information management system concerning one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the creation method of the content fragment in the information management system concerning one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure showing a tree structure and a story structure in an information management system concerning one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a state in which a specific content fragment is zoomed up so as to be located at the center of the screen in the information management system according to the embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the display screen in the information management system concerning one Embodiment of this invention, and is the figure which zoomed out FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the display screen in the information management system concerning one Embodiment of this invention, and is the figure which looked down at FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the display screen at the time of an automatic presentation in the information management system concerning one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of the display screen in the information management system concerning one Embodiment of this invention, The left screen is the figure seen from a home position, and the right screen is the figure which displayed the back side. It is a figure which shows an example of a display screen in the experimental result using the information management system concerning one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure showing an example of the display image of the automatic presentation about the story structure for explaining the present invention created using the information management system concerning one embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure showing an example of the display image of the automatic presentation about the story structure for explaining the present invention created using the information management system concerning one embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure showing an example of the display image of the automatic presentation about the story structure for explaining the present invention created using the information management system concerning one embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure showing an example of the display image of the automatic presentation about the story structure for explaining the present invention created using the information management system concerning one embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure showing an example of the display image of the automatic presentation about the story structure for explaining the present invention created using the information management system concerning one embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure showing an example of the display image of the automatic presentation about the story structure for explaining the present invention created using the information management system concerning one embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure showing an example of the display image of the automatic presentation about the story structure for explaining the present invention created using the information management system concerning one embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure showing an example of the display image of the automatic presentation about the story structure for explaining the present invention created using the information management system concerning one embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure showing an example of the display image of the automatic presentation about the story structure for explaining the present invention created using the information management system concerning one embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure showing an example of the display image of the automatic presentation about the story structure for explaining the present invention created using the information management system concerning one embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure showing an example of the display image of the automatic presentation about the story structure for explaining the present invention created using the information management system concerning one embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure showing an example of the display image of the automatic presentation about the story structure for explaining the present invention created using the information management system concerning one embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure showing an example of the display image of the automatic presentation about the story structure for explaining the present invention created using the information management system concerning one embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure showing an example of the display image of the automatic presentation about the story structure for explaining the present invention created using the information management system concerning one embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure showing an example of the display image of the automatic presentation about the story structure for explaining the present invention created using the information management system concerning one embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure showing an example of the display image of the automatic presentation about the story structure for explaining the present invention created using the information management system concerning one embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure showing an example of the display image of the automatic presentation about the story structure for explaining the present invention created using the information management system concerning one embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure showing an example of the display image of the automatic presentation about the story structure for explaining the present invention created using the information management system concerning one embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure showing an example of the display image of the automatic presentation about the story structure for explaining the present invention created using the information management system concerning one embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure showing an example of the display image of the automatic presentation about the story structure for explaining the present invention created using the information management system concerning one embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure showing an example of the display image of the automatic presentation about the story structure for explaining the present invention created using the information management system concerning one embodiment of the present invention. It is a block diagram showing a schematic structure of an information management system concerning one embodiment of the present invention. It is a flow figure showing a flow of processing in an information management system concerning one embodiment of the present invention. It is a block diagram which shows the modification of the information management system concerning one Embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the example of the card placement policy of each test subject in the memory construction experiment conducted using the information management system concerning the position embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the example of the card placement policy of each test subject in the memory construction experiment conducted using the information management system concerning the position embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the example of the card arrangement policy of each test subject in the memory construction experiment conducted using the information management system concerning the position embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the example of the arrangement policy of a story in the memory construction experiment performed using the information management system concerning the position embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the example of the arrangement policy of a story in the memory construction experiment performed using the information management system concerning the position embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the example of the arrangement policy of a story in the memory construction experiment performed using the information management system concerning the position embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows the example of the arrangement policy of a story in the memory construction experiment performed using the information management system concerning the position embodiment of this invention. It is an explanatory view showing an example of a landscape model constructed in an information management system concerning one embodiment of the present invention. It is a block diagram which shows schematic structure of the information management system concerning other embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which shows an example of the context displayed on a landscape in the information management system concerning other embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which reproduced the viewpoint position of the context point in the information management system concerning other embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which reproduced the viewpoint position of the context point in the information management system concerning other embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which reproduced the viewpoint position of the context point in the information management system concerning other embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which reproduced the viewpoint position of the context point in the information management system concerning other embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which reproduced the viewpoint position of the context point in the information management system concerning other embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which reproduced the viewpoint position of the context point in the information management system concerning other embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which reproduced the viewpoint position of the context point in the information management system concerning other embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which reproduced the viewpoint position of the context point in the information management system concerning other embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which reproduced the viewpoint position of the context point in the information management system concerning other embodiment of this invention. It is explanatory drawing which reproduced the viewpoint position of the context point in the information management system concerning other embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of a process in the information management system concerning other embodiment of this invention. FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a display screen when context automatic reproduction is performed in an information management system according to another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a display screen when a context is reproduced in the information management system according to another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing a knowledge sphere and a hierarchical structure displayed on the knowledge sphere when contour lines are not displayed and when contour lines are displayed in still another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing an example in which a region surrounded by each contour line is stereoscopically displayed in still another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing another example in which a region surrounded by each contour line is stereoscopically displayed in still another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a case where the number of intellectual ball cards to be displayed is changed according to the display size of intellectual balls in still another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 16 is an explanatory diagram showing an example in which regions within the boundary line corresponding to each tree structure are colored and displayed as labels in still another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 16 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of displaying a result of a joining/separating process of tree structures in still another embodiment of the present invention.

[Embodiment 1]
An embodiment of the present invention will be described.

  In this embodiment, a spatiotemporal memory (temporal memory) model of externalized memory is proposed for the purpose of realizing a personalized externalized memory construction system (information management system) that can be continuously developed. In the spatiotemporal memory model according to the present embodiment, a continuously developable externalized memory is modeled as a spatially constructed content and its temporal evolution. That is, in the spatiotemporal memory model according to the present embodiment, information (content) is displayed on a virtual spherical surface composed of three-dimensional CGs so that anyone can intuitively understand and store the three-dimensional CGs. To build a system that realizes sustainable externalized memory. Further, in the present embodiment, such a virtual spherical surface formed by the three-dimensional CG is called a “knowledge sphere” in the sense of a sphere of knowledge.

  In addition, in this embodiment, the spatiotemporal memory model is implemented as a knowledge sphere (knowledge system, a space-time recording system that can be continuously developed), and an externalized memory using 1100 content fragments is experimentally constructed. The results and the feasibility of mass externalized storage management provided by sustainable use are described.

  In the present embodiment, externalized storage is regarded as a type of content. That is, in this embodiment, an open object (class) called a "knowledge card (content card)" is defined. The "intellectual card" is an image, text, sound, time domain data, document left by the user (brain text, Word (registered trademark) document, PDF document, handwritten document, etc.), photo, movie (moving image), slide , And has a structure that can be handled by combining them with each other including arbitrary electronic contents such as Web pages. The “intellectual card (content card)” is a means for externalizing data, has a structure that enables long-term storage, browsing, and reuse, and motivates long-term user use.

  Sustainable externalized memory must be able to accumulate for a long period of time and to withstand long-term use. Memories that have been externalized will be cherished if there is no way to view them again or show them to others. For example, it is considered that photographs are motivated to be stored for a long period of time because the duality of photographs is an external memory and at the same time is a content that is visible to people. In particular, contents such as albums that are organized in consideration of being viewed again later are easy for other people and future ones to view.

  In addition, this embodiment proposes a spatiotemporal memory model as a model of the memory construction system. The spatiotemporal memory model supports the continuous development of externalized memory by enabling it to be stored and viewed in space and time as a set of contents and content fragments that are the material for the externalized storage.

  Further, in the present embodiment, the problem of spatial information arrangement of externalized memory is mainly addressed, and the zooming technique is positioned as an aid of information arrangement.

<1-1 spatiotemporal memory model>
We propose a spatiotemporal memory model as a model of the personalized external memory construction system. In order to build an externalized memory that can be continuously developed, it is important to accumulate the externalized memory over time and the spatial extent in which a large amount of externalized memory can be placed.

  FIG. 1 shows a conceptual diagram of the spatiotemporal memory model. Here, it is assumed that the externalized storage is composed of a set of contents and content fragments, and the temporal accumulation of the externalized storage is the process of the content fragment externalization (t=1, t when the starting time is t=0). =3) and the process of constructing the content from the content fragment (t=2) are alternately repeated until the time t=n (n is an even number of 2 or more).

  In addition, the accumulated content fragments and contents are spatially arranged. At this time, the content fragments are geometrically arranged and the content is expressed by topologically connecting the content fragments.

  The spatiotemporal memory model according to the present embodiment is a development of the cumulative KJ method (see the above-mentioned "continuation/conceptual method"), which is a problem solving technique, as a content construction technique. The externalized space in the spatiotemporal memory model is not a temporary work space until the problem in the cumulative N method is solved, but a content space for constructing content. Content is a group of information and is expressed using complex media. The content space also has a browsing function for browsing content.

The externalized memory construction system using the spatiotemporal memory model is used by the user in the following procedure.
1. The user externalizes his memory as a content fragment.
2. The user geometrically arranges the content fragments in the externalized space.
3. The user topologically connects the content fragments and constructs the content.
4. The user can see the content himself or show the content to others.
5. The user receives feedback from the content, erases a new memory, and returns to step 1.

  Here, the geometrical arrangement of content fragments provides the user with implicit clues in building content. The user can construct the content while arranging the content fragments according to his or her own policy. On the other hand, the topological connection of the content fragments is a tree structure classification or an ordered story structure, which facilitates browsing of the content. Compared to geometrical placement, topological concatenation is a more explicit representation that is useful in explaining externalized memory to others.

<1-2 knowledge ball>
The "intellectual knowledge system" (Sustainable Knowledge Globe), which is an externalized memory construction system (information management system) based on the spatiotemporal memory model in the present embodiment, will be described. The knowledge ball is Microsoft. A system that is implemented using NET Framework 1.1 (registered trademark) and Managed Direct X 9.0 (registered trademark) and that operates on a PC equipped with Windows (registered trademark) and that includes a mouse and a keyboard. It can be operated using a standard interface. In addition, in the present embodiment, the “intellectual globe” is the name of the externalized memory construction system according to the present embodiment, and is composed of a three-dimensional CG (computer graphic) displayed on the display means in this system. It is also used as the name of the virtual spherical surface (three-dimensional spherical image).

  FIG. 34 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of the knowledge ball (knowing ball system) 1. As shown in this figure, the knowledge ball 1 includes an input device 2, an output device 3, a server 4, an external storage device 5, and a knowledge ball client (control unit) 6.

  The input device 2 is an interface that receives an input from a user. The configuration of this interface is not particularly limited, but in the present embodiment, a spatial information input device such as a mouse, a motion capture device, a pen tablet, a character information input device such as a keyboard, a video camera, an image of a microphone, an image, or the like. , A voice input device or the like can be used.

  The output device 3 includes a video output device (display means) such as a display and an audio output means (audio output means) such as a speaker.

  The server 4 is a server on the network that is connected to the knowledge ball 1 via the network.

  The external storage device 5 is a storage device such as a hard disk.

  The knowledge ball client (control unit, control means) 6 controls all operations in the knowledge ball 1, and includes a spatiotemporal information control unit 11 and a spatiotemporal information database 12.

  The spatiotemporal information database 12 is a database that stores and accumulates spatiotemporal information. In the present embodiment, the spatiotemporal spatiotemporal information includes a card (title, URL, annotation) and its last update date/time, position (display position (latitude/longitude)), size (display size (vertical/horizontal length)), structure. Refers to information about (tree structure, story structure).

  The spatiotemporal information is grouped as all cards (intellectual cards) on the intellect (three-dimensional sphere image) or a subset thereof, and "user name" "time" "ID (unique grouped group) Is managed by the spatial information database (the spatiotemporal information database 12).

  The spatiotemporal information can be saved/read in/from the external storage device (hard disk) 5. Also, upload/download is possible for the server 4 on the network.

  The spatiotemporal information control unit 11 includes a space information control unit 13, a conversation agent control unit 14, a time information control unit 15, and a card editor 16. Further, the spatial information control unit 13 includes a story structure control unit 17, a presentation information amount control unit 18, a spherical surface control unit 19, and a tree structure control unit 20.

  The time information control unit 15 displays the spatiotemporal information at the time designated by the user, or continuously displays the spatiotemporal information according to the user's instruction.

  The story structure control unit 17 determines an arc (link) (arc image) connecting the intellectual ball cards according to the front and back (order) relationship of the cards in the story (story structure in which intellectual ball cards are associated with each other, details will be described later). indicate. Further, the card is inserted into the story or deleted from the story in response to the user's operation on the input device 2. Also, the utterance order of the conversation agent, which will be described later, is controlled according to the story.

  The presentation information amount control unit 18 controls the information display range and display angle on the spherical surface corresponding to the scale, rotation angle, and viewpoint of the spherical surface (knowing sphere (three-dimensional spherical image)). The presentation information amount control unit 18 processes only the information that fits within the screen. Further, the presentation information amount control unit 18 controls the degree of detail and the number of displayed thumbnail images related to the intelligent ball card in order to reduce the burden on the three-dimensional CG processing.

  The spherical surface control unit 19 changes the scale and rotation angle of the spherical surface according to the user's operation on the input device 2.

  The tree structure control unit 20 focuses on a tree structure (a group structure in which the knowledge balls are classified, or an order structure (parent-child relationship) of the knowledge balls in the classified groups) of the cards (knowledge cards), centering on the parent card. It is expressed as a circle (area). At this time, the child card must be included in the circle of the parent card. Further, the tree structure control unit 20 calculates the radius of the circle from the distance between the parent card and the child card. The radius of the circle may be arbitrarily set by the user via the input device 2. Further, the display color of the circle or the display color inside the circle may be set according to the number of intelligent ball cards included in the group, or may be set arbitrarily by the user. In addition, the tree structure control unit 20 determines whether the card operated by the user is inside or outside the circle. If the card is inside, the tree structure controller 20 adds it as a child of the parent card, and if it is outside, the parent-child relationship. To eliminate. Further, the tree structure control unit 20 controls so that the circle of the tree operated by the user does not overlap the circles of other trees.

  The card editor 16 creates/changes a card in response to a user's operation on the input device 2, and saves it in the spatiotemporal information database 12 together with the update date and time.

  The conversation agent control unit 14 generates an automatic presentation of the card according to the story structure. The automatic presentation includes automatic slide (card) feeding, explanation using slide voice and animation by a conversation agent (conversation agent image), movement animation of the conversation agent, and question answer with the conversation agent. Here, the conversation agent is a character displayed on a part of the display screen in the automatic presentation with the slide as the background.

The automatic presentation corresponds to the user's operation with the following buttons provided on the input device 2.
"Play" button (automatic feed in order of story)
"Fast-forward" button (skip to next card)
"Rewind" button (returns to the previous card)
"Pause" button (pauses automatic feed)
"Stop" button (stop automatic feeding)
In the knowledge sphere, the externalized memory is expressed as a card-type content, and this card-type content is stored and viewed using a sphere that is virtually constructed as shown in FIG.

The features of the "know ball" are as follows.
(A) The coordinate system of the “know ball” can be arbitrarily changed according to the intention of the operator. That is, the coordinates and size can be arbitrarily changed.
(B) The size of the “know ball” can be arbitrarily changed according to the scaling of the operator. That is, it has a zoom function.
(C) The "content card" can be pasted or deleted at any position on the "know ball".
(D) A Riemann surface circular area can be placed at any position on the “know ball” and grouped.
(E) The Riemann surface circular area can be arbitrarily scaled.
(F) The Riemann surface circular region can be arbitrarily redefined or deleted.
(G) The "content card" can be defined, rearranged, and deleted at any position on the "know ball". (It can be pasted and grouped arbitrarily.)
(H) The “content card” can be externalized by including information such as images, texts and sounds in the time domain.
(I) The "content card" can be time-series, series by definition, and permutation of registration.
(J) The "content card" can be displayed in order ("conversation agent").
(K) "It can be displayed as a TV show by using a conversation agent.
(L) The "content card" can be changed to a shortened image and iconized as a folder.
(M) Content and content fragments are the construction of content in the externalization information process and can activate the cycle of content browsing and externalization.
(N) Content has a comparatively large weight in tacit knowledge and formal knowledge.
(O) Communicate by e-mail according to the use of "conversation agent".
(P) "I can return a prepared answer to a conversation agent's question.
(Q) Questions and answers of "conversation agent" can be organized and re-displayed.

(1-2-1 intellectual ball card)
In the knowledge ball, a format called a knowledge ball card is used as the content fragment of the externalized memory. The intellectual ball card is a content fragment composed of three elements of a file, a text indicating the title of the file, and a comment text for the file, and is described using, for example, the XML format as shown in FIG.

  In FIG. 3, the <card> element shows one intellectual ball card. Only one <card> element is described in one XML file. The <card> element has <title>, <url>, and <annotation> as child elements, one by one, a title in the <title> element, a URL pointing to a file in the <url> element, and an <annotation> element. An annotation is described in the inside.

  The knowledge ball card is an extension of the format of the content fragment called the knowledge card (see "Special feature of software agents and their application papers" above). The knowledge card is composed of a title, an image file, and a body text, and a story-type content can be created by arranging a plurality of knowledge cards in order. The inventors of the present invention have used knowledge cards as content fragments for conversation agent systems so far (“Special Issue on Software Agents and Their Applications”, and Hidekazu Kubota, Koji Yamashita, Tomohiro Fukuhara, Toyoaki Nishida). , "POC caster: Information providing agent using conversational expression for Internet community", Journal of Japan Society for Artificial Intelligence, vol. 17, No. 3, pp. 313-321, 2002.), regional information content and university. As a lecture/report content, there is a track record of creating 1000 stories composed of over 5000 knowledge cards.

  In the knowledge card, only images are allowed as files for simplicity, but in the knowledge ball card, this is extended to general files so that contents using documents and videos can be created.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the card is displayed on the knowledge ball as a set of a thumbnail image of the file, a title character, and the last update date and time. In addition, the card is always displayed horizontally and frontward with respect to the screen so that the card can be easily read by the user.

  The card editor 16 is used to create a knowledge ball card. The card editor 16 can be opened from the right-click menu at any position on the knowledge ball. FIG. 5 is a screen of the card editor 16 and is composed of input fields for titles and annotations and a file editing area. In the file editing area, it is possible to create a PNG image file using a hand-drawn drawing or a read image and an RTF document file using text and an image whose color and font size can be changed.

  The created file is stored in the local disk (the spatiotemporal information database 12) together with the knowledge ball card, and its position is described in the <url> element of the knowledge ball card. Currently, the only files that can be used in the knowledge ball card are image files and RTF files.

  The knowledge ball card can be created by converting an existing knowledge card in order to maintain compatibility with a conventional system such as EgoChatIII (“Special feature of software agents and their application papers”).

  Further, for example, a function may be provided in which the content created by an external editor (various application software) different from the card editor 16 is loaded into the intellectual ball system 1 as spatiotemporal information. That is, objects (contents, electronic documents) on other programs (systems) different from the intelligent ball system 1 may be imported (data is transferred and stored) to the intelligent ball system 1.

  FIG. 36 is a block diagram showing an example of a case where the intelligent ball system 1 is provided with such a function. The intelligent ball system 1 shown in this figure includes an importer 21 in the spatiotemporal information control unit 11 of the intelligent ball client 6 in addition to the configuration shown in FIG.

  The importer 21 is for importing content created by an external editor into the intellectual ball system 1. More specifically, the importer 21 uses a mouse, a motion capture, a pen tablet, etc., which are provided as the input device 2, to display contents displayed on the same desktop as the user's knowledge ball on the knowledge ball. When the content is dragged and dropped to the position, the content is taken into the intellectual ball system 1 as a knowledge ball card or a part of the knowledge ball card, stored in the spatiotemporal information database 12, and displayed on the knowledge ball.

The features of the knowledge ball card (content fragment, content card) and the network original language used for it are summarized as follows.
(A) XML is used in consideration of portability on the network.
(B) One card element includes <TITLE>, <URL>, and <ANNOTATION>.
(C) The title of the card is described in the <TITLE> element.
(D) A file is described in the <URL> element.
(E) Enter a note in the <ANNOTATION> element.
(F) A thumbnail image, a title character, and the last updated date can be displayed on the “know ball”.
(G) The card editor has a title, a file editing area, and an annotation input field.
(H) Cards can be connected by directed arcs to create stories.
(I) The "knowledge card" can be scaled.
(J) The image, text, sound, time, etc. can be externalized.
(K) "Conversation agent (e-mail, automatic answer, history)" can be displayed.

(1-2-2 Arrangement of externalized memory)
We consider the design of space for users to place externalized memory in order of dimension and topology.

(1-2-2-a dimension of space)
As a two-dimensional information arrangement space, there is a concept of a desktop, which is a file management environment for a PC such as Windows (registered trademark) and MacOS (registered trademark). It can be said that this desktop is a metaphor of a real-world work desk, but since it is a two-dimensional representation, we cannot utilize the three-dimensional sense of depth when we actually handle things on the desk.

  The information arrangement space using the three-dimensional sense of depth can be classified into two types depending on the presence or absence of the ground. For example, the above-mentioned "Designing workscape: an interdisciplinary experience", "The WebBook and the webform for an informa- tion-awareness-in-a-way-of-the-infor-a-word-of-infor-a-work-of-the-document-" It is a system that manages by arranging it on the ground, and since there is an easy-to-understand reference such as the ground, it is easy for a person to grasp the position.

  The characteristics of the visual world are said to be given by the background of objects such as the earth's surface and the horizon (see JJ Gibson, "Ecological Visual Theory", Science, 1985.). In other words, it can be said that the ground spreading in the background of the arranged information greatly assists the human's spatial perception, and the three-dimensional space with the ground is suitable for expressing geometric information. On the other hand, the three-dimensional space with the ground has a restriction that the information arrangement is limited to the space above the ground.

  On the other hand, the three-dimensional space without the ground has no restrictions on the arrangement, but has less cues for space perception. It can be said that the three-dimensional space without a ground is more suitable for expressing topology information than geometry information. "Positioning" is used to visualize the hierarchical structure of files.

  There are two types of spatial information handled by the spatiotemporal memory model: geometrical arrangement information and topological connection information, but since the content fragments that are connected as content are only a part, the geometry information occupies more. There is. Therefore, in this embodiment, a three-dimensional space with the ground is adopted.

(1-2-2-b Ground Topology)
The topology of the ground surface can take various forms such as a finite plane, an infinite plane, a two-dimensional torus (a plane in which upper and lower and left and right are connected), and a spherical surface. Known Landscape, a prototype version of the knowledge sphere (Kougen Gen, Toyoaki Nishida, "Knowledge Editing Support Using Mutual Adaptive Knowledge Externalization Techniques", Proceedings of the 18th Annual Conference of the Japanese Society for Artificial Intelligence, pp. 2E1-05, In 2004.), as a result of arranging the externalized memory using a finite plane, it was suggested that the externalized memory placed near the edge of the plane is inhibited from spreading in the edge direction.

  Infinite planes and two-dimensional tori are okay in this respect because they have no edges, but people usually do not have the opportunity to touch the world with infinite planes and two-dimensional torus-like ground. For this reason, in this embodiment, a space having a spherical surface as the ground is adopted like the earth in which we live. We know the shape of the earth well, and the position on the sphere can be easily grasped as latitude and longitude.

  In this way, the sphere uses the sphere as shown in FIG. 2 as a space for arranging the externalized memory. The ground is sandy and the latitude and longitude lines are drawn every 10 degrees. In addition, the colors of East and West longitudes and North and South latitudes are changed so that they can be distinguished. Also, a red quadrangular pyramid is set up at the North Pole and a blue quadrangular pyramid is set up at the South Pole for marking purposes, and the equator is a red belt. It should be noted that these marks are not intended to correspond to the realistic geography of the earth such as the position and size of Japan, but are provided as clues for the user to easily grasp the spherical surface.

  Further, the user can move the intelligent ball card by pressing the left button of the mouse and grasp it to arrange (drag and drop) it at a desired position on the surface of the intelligent ball.

(1-2-3 Connection of externalized memory)
A tree structure and a story structure are used as a method of connecting the intellectual ball cards as contents that can be explained to people. It is assumed that the user can give a tree structure and a story structure of any shape to the set of intellectual ball cards.

(1-2-3-a tree structure)
The tree structure is a general method of information classification, and is used by many people. By classifying, it becomes possible to browse the intellectual ball card as a meaningful group of contents.

  As a method of giving a tree structure to a knowledge ball card having geometry information, a parent-child relationship (hierarchical relationship) of the knowledge ball card is shown as a circle area as shown in FIG. A parent (upper layer) is represented as a knowledge ball card in the center of a circle, and a knowledge ball card at any position within the circle is a child (lower layer).

  The tree structure control unit 20 attaches a high foot so that the classification contents are well noticeable and displays the title in a larger size than usual (more than the child intellectual ball). In addition, the tree structure control unit 20 displays a circle including a child and a grandchild in a nested structure (a circle including a parent and a child (a circle of a root element), and a circle indicating a parent-child relationship, and displaying the circle including the child and the grandchild). A circle that includes grandchildren and great-grandchildren is displayed in a circle that includes a. That is, a circle that includes each parent and child is displayed in a circle of its upper hierarchy according to the hierarchy in the tree structure.). By expressing the depth of the tree. Further, the tree structure control unit 20 emphasizes a nesting relationship of trees (a relationship in which parent, child, grandchild, great-grandchild, and so on) are changed by changing the color of the circumference, and sets the root element circle as red, and then , Blue and brown are used alternately for each deepening. Further, the tree structure control unit 20 calculates the radius of the circle based on the distance from the parent to the child farthest from the parent, and updates the radius of the circle every time the user moves the child.

  If there is only one root element in the entire intellectual sphere, there are large restrictions on classification and placement, so the intellectual sphere allows multiple trees to exist. For the same reason, it also acknowledges the existence of a knowledge card that has no parents or children.

  The reason why the arc is not used as the representation of the tree structure is that the arcs intersect when the positions of a plurality of trees overlap and the structure is difficult to understand. In Shibu, the tree structure is made clear by setting a constraint that circles that are not in a parent-child relationship do not overlap in principle.

  If you move the Shihkyu card, all its descendants move together while maintaining their mutual positional relationship. That is, when the intellectual ball card is dragged and dropped, the tree structure control unit 20 moves all the descendants of the intellectual ball card together with the dragged and dropped intellectual ball card while maintaining the mutual positional relationship. In addition, the parent-child relationship of the intellectual ball cards can be tied by stacking the child intellectual ball cards on the parent intellectual ball card or in the circle thereof. In other words, when the intellectual ball card is dragged and dropped onto another intellectual ball card or within a circle having the other intellectual ball card as a parent, the tree structure control unit 20 determines that the dragged and dropped intelligent ball card is the other one described above. Form a parent-child relationship as if it were a child of the Chikyu card. Conversely, the tree structure control unit 20 cancels the parent-child relationship by taking the child's knowledge ball card out of the parent's circle. In addition, when moving a normal intellectual ball card, you cannot stack the intellectual ball card on another tree or move it away from your own tree, but only while the specified key (for example, shift key) is pressed The control unit 20 permits this. This change in the parent-child relationship is also applied to all descendants as well as movement.

(1-2-3-b story structure)
The story structure is a list structure with direction, and by giving an order relation to a plurality of intellectual balls, the story line between the cards can be clearly understood. Story-making also has the advantage of making the set of content fragments aware of the missing parts of the content (see "Continuing and Thinking" above).

  The story structure is expressed by connecting two intellectual balls with an arc as shown in FIG. The order of arcs is thicker on the side of the front Shihoku card and thinner on the side of the back Shihoku card. At this time, the arc may cross multiple trees. Similar to the tree structure, the arcs of the story structure may intersect, but since it is a linear list structure, it is not as difficult to read as the radial tree structure. In FIG. 6, an image file is created by sequentially connecting two cards, “Chikyu Project” and “Application of Chikyu”, starting from a Chikyu card with the title “Shibukyu Overview” by arc. An introductory story of the study of Shihkyu is made up of and the annotation text.

  The arc between the knowledge cards is created by the user selecting a connection command from the right-click menu on the card and clicking the connection destination card. That is, when the user uses the mouse as the input device 2 and right-clicks while moving the cursor displayed on the screen onto the card, the story structure control unit 17 causes the story structure control unit 17 to display a menu of operations that the user can select. Is displayed. Then, when the user selects a connection command (arc creation command) from this menu using the mouse and clicks on the card of the connection destination, the story structure control unit 17 creates an arc. The arc cutting is performed in the same procedure. Further, in this embodiment, the title of the intellectual ball card, which is the starting point of the story, is displayed larger than usual for easy discrimination.

(1-2-4 Browsing the intellectual ball)
Immediately after the start of the knowledge ball system 1, a knowledge ball as viewed obliquely from above the North Pole is displayed as shown in FIG. The user can browse an arbitrary range of an arbitrary place by rotating or zooming the intellectual ball with this position as the home position. That is, the sphere control unit 19 displays the intellectual sphere as seen from diagonally above the north pole immediately after the intellectual sphere system 1 is activated, and thereafter displays the intellectual sphere at the rotation angle and the scale according to the user's instruction. To do.

  Since it is difficult for a mouse to rotate with a large degree of freedom, it has only two degrees of freedom for rotation in the latitude and longitude directions. Rotation in the latitudinal direction is performed by holding down the right mouse button while moving up and down, and rotation in the longitude direction is performed by holding down the right mouse button and moving left and right. That is, when the mouse is moved up and down or left and right while the right button of the mouse is pressed, the spherical control unit 19 rotates the knowledge ball in the latitude direction or the longitude direction according to the amount of movement up or down or left and right. To display.

  When the mouse cursor is placed on the intellectual ball card, the presentation information amount control unit 18 displays the title and the last update date and time of the intelligent ball card larger than usual (before the mouse cursor is placed). Further, when the knowledge ball card is clicked, the spherical surface control unit 19 performs an animation operation of rotating the knowledge ball so that the target card is at the center of the screen and zooming up the knowledge ball card to the size of the full screen. FIG. 7 shows the knowledge ball card in the zoomed-up state.

  In order to place a large amount of externalized memory in a space, it is necessary to perform a zooming that enables a bird's-eye view of the entire space and a focus of a part.

  Since the zooming using the distorted arrangement in which the geometry between the information is arbitrarily changed at the stage of the information arrangement is not desirable, in the present embodiment, the expansion such as “Pad++: A Zooming Graphical Interface for Exploding Alternate Interface Physics” is performed. Take a reduction approach.

  The spherical control unit 19 adjusts the zooming of the intellectual ball according to the rotation amount of the mouse wheel operated by the user. Further, the presentation information amount control unit 18 controls the size of the thumbnail image of the intellectual ball according to the zooming (scale) of the intellectual ball. For example, three types of large, medium, and small thumbnail images are prepared for the intellectual ball card, and a more detailed image and a larger title are displayed as the image is zoomed in. On the other hand, as the image is zoomed out, the image/title display of the knowledge ball card loses its level of detail, and the displayable range increases at the same time. Note that when zooming out, the presentation information amount control unit 18 sequentially changes to the non-display state from the intellectual ball card in the deep position of the tree structure in order to reduce the load of computer processing. FIG. 8 is a zoomed-out view of the intelligent ball shown in FIG. 2, and the cards in the innermost circle are hidden.

  In addition, the spherical surface control unit 19 switches the display of the knowledge sphere between the normal viewpoint and the bird's-eye view (bird's-eye view) according to the selection instruction from the user. That is, the user can view the intelligent ball by selecting two viewpoints, a normal viewpoint and a bird's-eye view. The normal point of view (landscape) is a point of view of the ground from diagonally above, which gives a sense of depth. The bird's-eye view is a view of the ground from directly above, and in a space with depth, it is possible to avoid the fact that the card behind is hidden from the previous card (occlusion). FIG. 9 is a bird's eye view of the intelligent ball of FIG.

(1-2-5 Automatic story presentation)
In the knowledge ball system 1, in addition to active browsing of knowledge balls by the user, in order to assist the user to objectively see his/her story, automatic presentation of the story using characters is enabled. When the knowledge ball card has a story structure, when the knowledge ball card is zoomed up, the story structure control unit 17 displays a play button. When the user presses the play button, the conversation agent control unit 14 displays the character at the right end of the screen as shown in FIG. 10 and starts the automatic presentation.

  In the automatic presentation, the presentation information amount control unit 18 causes the thumbnail image of the knowledge ball card to be displayed as a background, and the conversation agent control unit 14 reads the annotation text aloud using commercially available voice synthesis software. At this time, the conversation agent control unit 14 controls the display of the character according to the voice, as if the character were reading the annotation text. After reading one intelligence ball card, the conversation agent control unit 14 moves the character to the next intelligence ball card connected in the story structure (displays the walking motion of the character moving to the next intelligence ball card). ), and read the next intellectual ball card in the same way as the above intellectual ball card. The presentation ends when you finish reading the last card in the story.

  Automatic presentations allow users to objectively view their own stories as they watch a television show. In addition to this, if you want to show your story to multiple people, you can play back the story created in advance and you will not have to perform the same operation many times.

  Here, the reason for using characters is to emphasize the consistency of the story by giving one presenter to each of the differently-distributed knowledge balls. The conversation agent control unit 14 causes the character displayed in the two-dimensional animation to operate, and performs the lip-sync when reading aloud and the walking motion when moving.

(1-2-6 Scaling of the intelligent ball card)
In the knowledge ball system 1, the user can change the width and height scale of the knowledge ball card as necessary in order to accommodate a large number of knowledge ball cards on the surface of the knowledge ball which is a finite space. That is, the presented information amount control unit 18 is configured to change the scale of the width and height of the intellectual ball card according to the input instruction of the user. In the present embodiment, the presentation information amount control unit 18 is configured so that the scale of the knowledge ball card can be changed in the range of 1.0 times (equal magnification) to 0.2 times. In the tree structure, the presentation information amount control unit 18 automatically multiplies the scale of the parent card by the scale of the child card. As a result, the cards of the lower generation (child cards) are always smaller than the cards of the upper generation (parent cards).

  The reason we made the cards of the lower generation smaller than the cards of the upper generation is that in the classification using the tree structure, the lower generation generally contains more specific content than the upper generation, so you can zoom in to view details. This is because it is considered that the card may be difficult to read except in the zoomed-up state.

  Also, since the distance between the parent and the child expands and contracts at the same ratio in conjunction with the scaling of the card, the radius of the tree circle is also expanded or contracted. The scaling operation is performed by the user rotating the mouse wheel while pressing the shift key on the card. That is, when the user rotates the mouse wheel while pressing the shift key on the knowledge ball card, the presentation information amount control unit 18 changes the scale of the knowledge ball card according to the rotation amount. The reason why the scale determination is not fully automated is that the user's intention (importance to the user, distinction of frequency of use, etc.) can be reflected in the size of the card as well as the arrangement of the cards.

(1-2-7 Development record of externalized memory)
The contents of the externalized memory on the intellectual ball are saved as new data every time the user presses the save button. In other words, when the user presses the save button, the spatiotemporal information control unit 11 (each control unit included in the spatiotemporal information control unit 11) stores the contents of the externalized memory on the knowledge ball in the spatiotemporal information database 12 (or It is stored in the external storage device 5 or the server 4). Immediately after the user activates the knowledge ball, the spatiotemporal information control unit 11 loads the latest data and displays the loaded latest data on the knowledge ball. Further, each time the user performs a predetermined operation (for example, every time the “PageUp” or “PageDown” key on the keyboard is pressed), the spatiotemporal information control unit 11 loads the preceding and succeeding data in chronological order. The earliest data in chronological order is in a state of nothing on the knowledge sphere, and the user can observe the transition of externalized memory construction from the beginning to the present.

The characteristics of the externalized memory operation are as follows.
(Α) Press the save button to record new data.
(Β) The initial screen is displayed when the intelligent ball is started.
(Γ) key "PAGEUP", "PAGEDOWN" to display the time series data.

<1-3 Movement of a knowledge ball>
Here, the operation of the knowledge ball (knowing ball system) 1 will be described. FIG. 35 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing in the knowledge ball system 1.

  The spatiotemporal information control unit 11 (each control unit included in the spatiotemporal information control unit 11) acquires a user request (user name/time/ID) to the input device 2 (S1).

  Next, the spatiotemporal information control unit 11 (each control unit included in the spatiotemporal information control unit 11) acquires the spatiotemporal information corresponding to the acquired user request from the spatiotemporal information database 12 (S2).

  Then, the spatiotemporal information control unit 11 (spherical surface control unit 19) calculates the display range of the screen corresponding to the current scale, rotation angle, and viewpoint of the spherical surface (S3).

  Further, the spatiotemporal information control unit 11 (tree structure control unit 20) calculates the radius of the circle based on the tree structure for all the spatiotemporal information (S4).

  After that, the spatiotemporal information control unit 11 (presentation information amount control unit 18) calculates the information to be actually displayed and the degree of detail of the spatiotemporal information within the display range (S5).

  Then, the spatiotemporal information control unit 11 (story structure control unit 17, presentation information amount control unit 18, spherical surface control unit 19, tree structure control unit 20), based on the acquired spatiotemporal information and the above calculation results. , Spherical (intellectual ball), card (intellectual card), story structure, and tree structure are displayed on the screen (S6).

  Next, the spatiotemporal information control unit 11 (each control unit included in the spatiotemporal information control unit 11) determines whether or not the user has operated the input device 2 (S7). Here, when there is no operation by the user, the spatiotemporal information control unit 11 (each control unit provided in the spatiotemporal information control unit 11) waits for an operation from the user (continues the process of S7).

  On the other hand, when there is an operation by the user in S7, the spatiotemporal information control unit 11 performs the following processing according to the content of the operation.

  That is, if there is a user name/time/ID change operation, the processing from S2 is performed again. If zooming, rotation, or viewpoint operation is performed, the processing from S3 is performed again. Further, when there is an operation of moving the card, changing the size, changing the tree structure, or changing the story structure, the spatio-temporal information is changed by each control unit provided in the spatial information control unit 13 (S8), and from S4. Repeat the process. When the ending operation is performed, the process in the knowledge ball system 1 is ended.

  When a zoom-up operation is performed, the spherical surface control unit 19 displays one card so as to zoom up (S10), and the spatiotemporal information control unit 11 (provided by the spatiotemporal information control unit 11 is provided. Each control unit) determines whether or not the user has operated the input device 2 (S11). Here, when there is no operation by the user, the spatiotemporal information control unit 11 (each control unit provided in the spatiotemporal information control unit 11) waits for an operation from the user (continues the process of S11).

  On the other hand, when there is an operation by the user in S11, the spatiotemporal information control unit 11 performs the following processing according to the content of the operation.

  That is, when the story reproducing operation is performed, the conversation agent control unit 14 executes the automatic presentation (S12), and the processing from S11 is performed again. When a card editing operation is performed, the card editing screen is displayed by the card editor 16 (S13), the card is edited/recorded based on the user's input to the input device 2 (S14), and the card editing screen is displayed. Close (S15) and repeat the process from S11. When the zoom-up cancellation operation is performed, the processing from S3 is performed again.

<1-4 Experiment 1>
In order to confirm whether the operation of externalized memory based on the spatiotemporal memory model is sufficiently possible when cards are continuously accumulated on the knowledge ball, we experimentally constructed externalized memory with a large number of cards. ..

  In this experiment, a knowledge ball was run on a notebook PC (CPU: Mobile Intel Pentium 4 (registered trademark) 2.20 GHz, memory: 768 MB, video card: NVIDIA GeForce4 460 Go (registered trademark), OS: Windows XP (registered trademark)). I made it work.

  Moreover, the amount of intelligent balls used for the experiment was realized by converting the contents created in the existing knowledge card format into intelligent balls and reading them. As the knowledge card content, we used the manual content of a DVD recorder with many classification items and stories. This manual content is created by a part-time worker as a material for individuals to learn how to operate a DVD recorder, and is divided into four major categories: "function example", "setting/initial setting", "operation method", and "knowledge". And the content is composed of 290 stories divided into 23 sub-categories such as "reserved recording" and "safety precautions".

  The 290 story consists of 1100 intellectual balls, and there are no cards not included in the story. Here, it is assumed that this manual content is a memory regarding how to use the DVD recorder personalized by an individual, and the layout operation is performed.

  FIG. 11 shows the initial arrangement of the read knowledge card. The screen on the left is a view of the knowledge ball from the home position, and the screen on the right shows the back side. The externalized memory left the unclassified portion, so the small classification was intentionally put out of the large classification and manually arranged. Some of the major categories include stories that have not been grouped into minor categories, which I left as is in the major categories.

  In FIG. 11, since many stories are included in “setting/initial setting” and “operation method” and scaling is not performed, it can be seen that the area of the circle is wider than the others.

  After the initial arrangement was completed, the inventor of the present invention operated the card on the knowledge ball to change the arrangement so that it was easy to understand. The inventor of the present invention has never used a device called a DVD recorder until now, and in this experiment, while putting the device next to the notebook PC and actually operating it, a manual easy for himself to use was known. I proceeded with the intention of building it.

  According to the placement policy of the inventor of the present invention, a card that is considered to be frequently used is large and a card that is thought to be used is small. Also, by arranging the tree to be browsed again in the depth direction in front of the tree viewed from the home position, we made a plan for learning the device operation method in the future.

  The east and west of the home position are arranged so as to correspond to the function relating to recording and the function relating to reproduction, respectively, so that the writer can easily remember the position. Regarding the classification using the tree structure, I changed the classification name that I can remember easily and moved between classifications.

As a result of performing such work for 2 hours, the arrangement as shown in FIG. 12 was completed. The main changes and their reasons are as follows.
(A) Since the setting of the device has already been completed by another person, the whole tree is scaled down so that the “setting/initial setting” is not used, and it is placed in a place invisible from the home position.
(B) While repeatedly browsing the knowledge ball card and operating the device, I noticed that there are functions that cannot be used in the environment where the device is currently placed. For this reason, we've scaled down the cards for features that aren't available.
(C) When I found a card relating to the recording function that I was most interested in, I moved to become a child of the "reserved recording" tree.
(D) The card relating to the recording/playback function, which is a basic operation, is arranged so as to be in front when viewed from the home position. Cards for dubbing functions, which are evolutionary operations, and functions for linking with mobile phones, are placed in the back as things to be learned in the future.
(E) A large vacant lot was secured on the front side as seen from the home position. This is a planned place for recording and arranging things to notice when using the device in the future.

<1-4-1 Consideration of Experiment 1>
As a result of the above experiment, it is possible to construct a knowledge ball based on its own policy by giving parameters such as the depth direction and the left and right direction of the knowledge ball, the size of the card, etc., that are easy for the user to understand. I got the suggestion.

  During the first 30 minutes when I started browsing Shiretoko, I couldn't understand how to operate the DVD recorder device at all, so I grasped the flow of the operation by playing the story. Even if the externalized memory is created by oneself, it is considered that the memory regarding the context information becomes thin with the passage of time, and thus such a story reproducing function is considered to help remember the connection of the externalized memory. After that, the card layout was changed by repeatedly looking at the title and thumbnail image of the intellectual ball card and trying the corresponding operation on the device.

  In the above experiment, the drawing performance was around 20 fps on average, and the knowledge ball could be operated without stress. In the experiment, we handled more than 1000 cards in total, but since the number of cards displayed at the same time by zooming and scaling is kept within about 100, the current performance will not change even if more cards are added. Can be predicted.

  In addition to the above experiments, the knowledge ball can be used to create meeting minutes and research memos. For example, the inventor of the present invention used a knowledge ball to create a record of a certain conference, and summarized the contents of three conferences using 84 cards. In addition, a summary of the discussions at the first two meetings was created as a story consisting of seven knowledge balls, and an automatic presentation was created based on the story. Further, by using a knowledge ball, it is possible to give a summary lecture at the Closing Talk by using a record created on the knowledge ball during a conference, for example.

  In addition, the inventor of the present invention created 76 cards related to the “know ball (know ball system)” to assist in the writing of a paper about the watch ball. Further, the inventor of the present invention has created a story structure regarding "intellectual sphere (intellectual sphere system)" using these cards. FIG. 13 to FIG. 33 show display images of the automatic presentation about the story structure about the “knowing ball (knowing ball system)” created above. The matters described in these drawings are also included in the technical scope of the present invention.

  In addition, the knowledge ball can be used not only as a personalized external storage space, but also as an externalized storage that has the opportunity to be shown to others such as the minutes and slides of lectures. Also, by allowing operations by multiple people, it can be expected to develop as a shared whiteboard.

  Also, one intellectual ball may manage all the externalized memories of an individual, but some intellectual balls (externalized memory) and intellectual balls that can be shown to others (externalized memory) Therefore, one user may have a plurality of intellectual balls depending on the purpose of use and the person to be shown. Further, the card may be operated between a plurality of intelligent balls.

  In addition, the file represented as a knowledge ball card in the knowledge ball is not limited to an image or an RTF document file, but a more general file such as an HTML document or a PDF document may be used.

  Further, according to the present invention, by using a three-dimensional space, it is possible to operate an externalized memory by utilizing the spatial perception ability of a person, and in this respect, the "memorable house" and the "MyLifeBits: Fullfilling the" are described above. It can be said that it is different from the technology of Memex Vision.

<1-5 Experiment 2>
A practical experiment was conducted by three test subjects (subjects I, II, and III) in order to obtain knowledge about how the intelligent ball system 1 is actually used for the purpose of constructing and recalling memory. Subjects constructed a landscape from July 2004 to March 2005 to manage their own content.

  As a result of the experiment, the contents placed by the test subjects were mainly slides and movies created for research presentations, photos taken at travel destinations, catalog photos acquired from the Web, bookmarks, memos, etc., and the average of each card The number was approximately 4000.

  It was also observed that the landscapes constructed by the subjects each had their own unique placement policy. 37(a) to 37(c) are explanatory diagrams showing examples of the card placement policy of the subject.

  FIG. 37A shows a grid-shaped arrangement method used by the subject I. As shown in this figure, the subject I arranged the catalog photographs grouped by the tree structure in orderly and vertically. The subject I commented that the reason for using this placement policy was that "it was easy to understand the grid-like placement when looking at a catalog such as CDs and shoes."

  FIG. 37( b) is a star-shaped (radial) arrangement method used by the subject II. As shown in this figure, the subject II arranged the tree structure such that the child was spread in all directions with the parent as the center. As a reason for using this placement policy, subject II commented that "a star-shaped placement is suitable for expressing a parent-child relationship".

  FIG. 37( c) is an arrangement method similar to the world map by subject II. As shown in this figure, the subject II arranged the photographs taken in various parts of the world in association with the geographical positions. That is, the subject II arranged the photograph taken in a certain city in association with the approximate position on the world map of the city. It should be noted that the photographs taken in England and Italy were located near the group of photographs taken in Japanese cities, unlike the actual geographical position. Regarding this reason, Subject II commented, "Because the number of photographs at overseas destinations is small, the geographical mapping of photographs could be reduced to this scale in Subject II's own mind." Obtained.

  Next, the placement policy of the story of each subject (the placement policy of the cards included in the story) was considered in the experimental results. 38(a) to 38(d) are explanatory diagrams showing examples of story placement policies. In addition, in each of these figures, the number attached to each card indicates the semantic section number of the story, and the alphabet indicates the subsection n number.

  FIG. 38(a) shows a lateral zigzag fold arrangement method used by the subject II. In the layout method shown in this figure, the story flows from the left back to the front right in the landscape. On the other hand, FIG. 38(b) shows the vertical zigzag arranging method used by the subject III. With this placement method, the story flows from the front left to the back right in the landscape. In the arrangement method of FIGS. 38A and 38B, it can be seen that the subjects arrange the cards forming the story at an angle from the front side of the landscape to the rear side. Note that the arrangement method of FIGS. 38(a) and 38(b) was used for arrangement of presentation slides, and was folded at the end of each section.

  The subject II commented that the placement method of FIG. 38(a) was "placed while emphasizing the story flow from left to right." In addition, from the subject III, regarding the arrangement method of FIG. 38( b ), a comment “arranged so that the beginnings of sections can be listed” was obtained.

  FIG. 38C shows the spiral arrangement method used by the subject III. The subject III commented that the reason for using this placement method was "designed to save space".

  FIG. 38D shows the clockwise arrangement method used by the subject I. Subject I commented that the reason why this arrangement method was used was that "clockwise was easy to understand in expressing time."

  From the above experimental result, according to the knowledge ball system 1, the user can use the spatial spread and depth of the knowledge ball by utilizing the fact that the user can arrange his/her content at any position on the knowledge ball. It was found that the memory can be constructed in a manner that is convenient for the user, by using a metaphor such as a world map or a clock as a clue. That is, according to the knowledge ball system 1, the user arbitrarily determines each knowledge ball card according to, for example, the type of content included in the card, the type of story including each card, the position of each card in the story, and the like. It was found that the memory can be constructed in such a way that the user (or another observer) recalled it by arranging it in.

  In the above experimental results, the placement (placement method) of the knowledge ball cards by each subject was subjective rather than objective and perceptual rather than conceptual. In other words, according to the knowledge ball system 1, it can be said that the knowledge ball cards can be arranged subjectively and perceptually according to the preference of the user.

  From the above experimental results, by using the knowledge ball system 1, the user constructs a casual memory using spatial cues and his own policy, such as when organizing things in his room. It turns out that is possible.

<1-6 Summary>
In the present embodiment, a spatiotemporal memory model of externalized memory was proposed for the purpose of realizing a continuously developable externalized memory construction system. In the spatiotemporal memory model, externalized memory is regarded as a kind of content, and its continuous development is modeled as the accumulation of spatiotemporal content.

  In addition, we implemented the spatiotemporal memory model as a knowledge ball (know ball system). In the knowledge sphere, spatiotemporal contents can be constructed on a virtual sphere. As an experiment, as a result of constructing an externalized memory composed of 290 contents (consisting of about 1100 cards (about 1100 content fragments)) on the knowledge ball, We obtained the suggestion that externalized memory can be arranged (expressed) by taking advantage of spatial cues such as size, and that externalized memory can be constructed based on one's own policy. As described above, there is no other example in which the externalized storage as a cohesive content rather than a document or an image fragment is realized on a scale like this embodiment.

  In the knowledge ball system 1 according to the present embodiment, the user can arbitrarily set the texture, size, arrangement, etc. of the knowledge ball card. As a result, intuitive memory management (information management) can be performed using spatial cues such as up/down/left/right, front/back, and large/small. Further, since the knowledge balls can be connected using a tree structure or a story structure, the knowledge system 1 can express a group of cards or a flow of a story (story) formed by each card. it can.

  The present invention can also be expressed as an externalized memory construction system that manages human memory as content on a virtual sphere composed of three-dimensional computer graphics (CG).

  Conventionally, an “electronic whiteboard” that is intended for a large number of users who covers a wide area is not only convenient, but also has problems such as archiving speed and display area, and invisibility due to the depth of data. It can also be said that the present invention aims to solve these problems while fusing them in higher order.

Further, in the present embodiment, instead of a two-dimensional plane, a spherical surface in which all regions are topologically connected is used as a display surface, and the inside of a circle on the Riemann surface defined on the spherical surface is defined as a group. It is displayed as an object that characterizes the independent information registered in. In addition, each displayed object plays a role of an index of the information. You can also access the information by clicking on this object. In addition, various operations such as grouping, introduction of objects, and fusion can be easily performed with a mouse, such as input/output/deletion/registration/correction. Further, the size of the “know ball” can be enlarged or reduced by scaling, and the display limit can be maintained at a high level. The objects on the "know ball" are standardized to the "know ball card" and created as a database that can be easily used.
Details are as follows.
(1) The user can archive the content as a fragment.
(2) Content can be geometrically registered in the externalized space.
(3) Content can be topologically connected and used.
(4) The contents can be observed by both the self and others.
(5) New information can be registered by receiving information inspiration from the content.

  Further, the present invention may also be expressed as a common display device which is intended to be used alone or as groupware on a network, and an information storage system including a continuously developable software system. it can.

  Further, the present invention is applicable to portability such as network technology, server client technology, TCP/IP technology, image compression technology, general-purpose standardization technology, software standardization technology, various object-oriented technologies, JAVA (registered trademark), and XML. It is backed by industry standard technology with advances such as good open software technology. Conventionally, much has been spent on these connection methods, but the present invention can directly handle contents regardless of such a problem.

  It can also be said that the present invention mainly addresses the problem of spatial information arrangement of externalized memory and positions the zooming technique as an auxiliary of information arrangement.

  Further, the present invention relates to a common display device which is intended to be used alone or as groupware on a network, and displays various objects on a space-time (temporal space) which can be continuously developed, and at the same time, displays arbitrary objects. It can also be described as a system consisting of a software system that enables grouping based on operations.

  The present invention also includes a single or composite information database regarding voice, characters, two-dimensional/three-dimensional/time-expanded images used in this system, or an apparatus using this information database.

  Further, in this system, a device for expanding and displaying the icon, index character, attribute, reduced image, etc. of the object on a three-dimensional spherical surface is also included in the present invention.

  In addition, this system is equipped with a human interface capable of stereoscopically displaying the above-mentioned three-dimensional spherical surface on the spherical surface of knowledge (knowing sphere) and simultaneously observing the spherical surface and the objects attached and displayed on the spherical surface. The present invention also includes a database or a device using the database.

  Further, in this system, grouping of contents may be displayed by a circle. An arbitrary number of group circles can be defined on the “intellectual sphere”, and a group once defined may be redefined as many times as desired by the operator.

  Further, this system may be configured to have a function (automatic agent function) of serializing objects in time series and automatically reading and displaying the series of images and character information.

  Further, in this system, it may be possible to input and operate on the above-mentioned "knowledge" from a device on the network.

  Further, in this system, the scale of icons, reduced images, etc. displayed on the "know ball" may be reflected in the entire tree structure of the database.

  Further, in this system, the transition of the externalized information input by the above method may be displayed by a method of displaying the external relation information in a time series context.

  Further, the externalized memory construction system of the present invention manages information such as human memory as contents on a virtual sphere formed by three-dimensional CG (computer graphic). That is, the present invention is characterized in that a three-dimensional space is used in order to manage a large amount of externalized storage, and that the externalized storage can be viewed as content as it is.

  By constructing externalized memory on a three-dimensional virtual sphere, it becomes possible to make use of human spatial cognitive ability. Further, by expressing the externalized memory as a card-type content fragment, it becomes easy to create and browse the content based on the externalized memory.

  According to the present invention, for example, it is possible to transmit knowledge accumulated over the life of a person to the society as contents, and it is expected that intellectual production in the society will be accelerated.

  The present invention can also be said to be characterized in that it enables a three-dimensional spatial arrangement of externalized storage and that it can construct contents using text in addition to images.

  Further, in the present embodiment, all the processes in the intelligent ball system 1 are performed by the control of the spatiotemporal information control unit 11. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and a program for performing these processes may be recorded in a recording medium and an information processing device capable of reading this program may be used instead of the spatiotemporal information control unit 11.

  In this configuration, the arithmetic unit (CPU or MPU) of the information processing device reads the program recorded in the recording medium and executes the process. Therefore, it can be said that this program itself realizes the processing.

  Here, as the above-mentioned information processing device, in addition to a general computer (workstation or personal computer), a function expansion board or a function expansion unit mounted on the computer can be used.

  The above-mentioned program is a program code (execution format program, intermediate code program, source program, etc.) of software that realizes processing. This program may be used alone or in combination with another program (OS or the like). Further, this program may be read from the recording medium, then temporarily stored in a memory (RAM or the like) in the apparatus, and then read and executed again.

  Further, the recording medium for recording the program may be one that can be easily separated from the information processing device, or may be fixed (mounted) on the device. Further, it may be connected to the apparatus as an external storage device.

  Such recording media include magnetic tapes such as video tapes and cassette tapes, magnetic disks such as floppy (registered trademark) disks and hard disks, and optical disks such as CD-ROM, MO, MD, DVD, and CD-R (magneto-optical). Disks, memory cards such as IC cards and optical cards, semiconductor memories such as mask ROM, EPROM, EEPROM, and flash ROM can be applied.

  A recording medium connected to the information processing device via a network (intranet, internet, etc.) may be used. In this case, the information processing device acquires the program by downloading via the network. That is, the above program may be acquired via a transmission medium (medium that fluidly holds the program) such as a network (one connected to a wired line or a wireless line). The program for downloading is preferably stored in advance in the device (or in the sending side device/receiving side device).

  Further, each process performed by the spatio-temporal information control unit 11 in the knowledge ball 1 is not limited to the process performed in time series according to the above-described order, but is not necessarily performed in time sequence, but may be performed in parallel or individually. Good.

[Embodiment 2]
Another embodiment of the present invention will be described. For convenience of description, members (function blocks) having the same functions as those of the members (function blocks) described in the first embodiment will be denoted by the same reference numerals as those in the first embodiment, and description thereof will be omitted.

  In the first embodiment, the story structure is constructed by giving an order relationship to a plurality of intellectual balls, and the story line between the cards can be clarified. FIG. 39 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a landscape model constructed by the intelligent ball system 1. In the landscape model shown in this figure, the cards (know ball cards) A1, A2, and A3 are children whose parent is the card A, and the tree whose parent is the card A4 is a subtree of the card A. The story structure is expressed using a unidirectional list that can traverse the tree structure, and is expressed as an arrow from A1 to C2 in FIG. Story structure is useful in recalling memory in a fixed order, such as when presenting orally.

  Further, in the first embodiment, it is possible to give an automatic story presentation. That is, in the first embodiment, when the user selects the reproduction of the story (automatic presentation of the story), the presentation information amount control unit 18 displays the thumbnail image of the knowledge ball card as the background, and the conversation agent control unit 14 annotates the annotations. The operation of reading out texts using commercially available speech synthesis software was performed for each intelligent ball card that composes a story in the order according to the story.

  By the way, in the first embodiment, when the story is reproduced, the thumbnail image of the intelligent ball card is displayed as the background. However, when playing a story, information about not only the intelligent balls that make up the story but also other intelligent balls that are placed in the vicinity of that intelligent ball card and the overall image of the landscape are displayed. It may be more useful for recollecting memory or presenting information to the observer.

  Therefore, in the present embodiment, when a story is played back, not only the knowledge ball cards that make up the story but also the information around the knowledge ball card can be displayed.

  FIG. 40 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of the intelligent ball system 1a according to the present embodiment. As shown in this figure, the intelligent ball system 1a according to the present embodiment includes a context structure control unit 22 instead of the story structure control unit 17 in the intelligent ball system 1 shown in FIG.

  The context structure control unit 22 controls the creation, editing, and reproduction of the context. That is, the context structure control unit 22 creates and edits the context according to the user's operation on the input device 2, and controls the presentation position and the order of the spatiotemporal information when the context is reproduced. It should be noted that in the present embodiment, the user can select and give an automatic presentation or a manual presentation of the context.

  Here, the “context” is one in which a plurality of context points are connected by recording a camera angle on the landscape as a context point. That is, the “context” is composed of a viewpoint position (context point) viewed from a specific angle with respect to a space of a specific range on the intellectual sphere (landscape), and a continuous change of the viewpoint position. The camera angle of each context point and the order of connection are specified by the user.

  By using the context, it becomes possible to express the spatiotemporal context of information. That is, by reproducing the context, it is possible to reproduce, for example, a certain card and a specific camera angle that holds a card group in the vicinity of the card, and the position of the card with respect to the surroundings can be expressed.

  Assuming that the entire landscape model shown in FIG. 39 is a context point given to the card B, when reproducing this context point, the context structure control unit 22 changes the display state immediately before that to FIG. The display state is transited to the indicated camera angle. As a result, the user observes the camera angle in FIG. 39, and the card B is included in the story connecting the tree A (tree having the card A as a parent) and the tree C (tree having the card C as a parent). It is possible to grasp the fact that it is installed and the arrangement relationship with the card group in the upper right of the figure (a card group near cards A, B and C).

  FIG. 41 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the context displayed on the knowledge sphere (on the landscape). As shown in this figure, the context is an image showing context points on the knowledge ball (context points c1, c2, c3,..., C10 in the example of FIG. 41) and a red story line connecting the context points. Displayed with images.

  The context points shown in FIG. 41 are connected by a story line in the order of c1, c2,..., C10. As a result, the storyline expresses the temporal movement order of the plurality of viewpoint positions (context points).

Further, as shown in FIG. 41, a part of the screen for receiving the user's input regarding the reproduction of the content,
"Autoplay" button (automatically replay context)
"Forward" button (moves to the next context point)
"Back" button (return to the previous context point)
Pause button (pauses context autoplay)
"Stop" button (stop automatic playback of context)
Is displayed. The context structure control unit 22 controls the reproduction of the context according to the operation of these buttons by the user.

  Further, the context structure control unit 22 displays the image showing each context point so as to be visualized as a map on the surface of the intellectual sphere, not in the air which is the actual viewpoint position. This is because in the case of a spherical surface, it is difficult for an object placed in the air to grasp the correspondence with the ground. In addition, the context structure control unit 22 sets the size of the image showing each context point displayed on the surface of the knowledge sphere according to the display size (scale) of the landscape at the context point.

  42 to 51 are explanatory views in which the viewpoint positions of the context points c1 to c10 shown in FIG. 41 are respectively reproduced. As shown in these drawings, each context point has one piece of viewpoint position information (landscape display range (scale) and viewpoint angle with respect to the landscape).

  Here, the operation of the intelligent ball system 1a according to the present embodiment will be described. FIG. 52 is a flowchart showing the flow of processing in the knowledge ball system 1.

  The spatiotemporal information control unit 11 (each control unit included in the spatiotemporal information control unit 11) acquires a user request (user name/time/ID) for the input device 2 (S21).

  Next, the spatiotemporal information control unit 11 (each control unit included in the spatiotemporal information control unit 11) acquires the spatiotemporal information corresponding to the acquired user request from the spatiotemporal information database 12 (S22).

  Then, the spatiotemporal information control unit 11 (spherical surface control unit 19) calculates the display range of the screen corresponding to the current scale, rotation angle, and viewpoint of the spherical surface (S23).

  Further, the spatiotemporal information control unit 11 (tree structure control unit 20) calculates the radius of the circle based on the tree structure for all the spatiotemporal information (S24).

  After that, the spatiotemporal information control unit 11 (presentation information amount control unit 18) calculates the information to be actually displayed and the degree of detail of the spatiotemporal information within the display range (S25).

  Then, the spatio-temporal information control unit 11 (the context structure control unit 22, the presentation information amount control unit 18, the spherical surface control unit 19, the tree structure control unit 20), based on the acquired spatio-temporal information and the above calculation results. , Sphere (know ball), card (know ball card), context structure, and tree structure are displayed on the screen (S26).

  Next, the spatiotemporal information control unit 11 (each control unit included in the spatiotemporal information control unit 11) determines whether or not the user has operated the input device 2 (S27). Here, when there is no operation by the user, the spatiotemporal information control unit 11 (each control unit included in the spatiotemporal information control unit 11) waits for an operation from the user (continues the process of S27).

  On the other hand, when there is an operation by the user in S27, the spatiotemporal information control unit 11 performs the following processing according to the content of the operation.

  That is, if there is a user name/time/ID change operation, the processing from S22 is performed again. If zooming, rotation, or viewpoint operation is performed, the processing from S23 is performed again. Further, when there are operations of card movement, size change, tree structure change, and context structure change, spatiotemporal information is changed by each control unit provided in the spatial information control unit 13 (S28), and from S24. Repeat the process. In addition, when there is a termination operation, the processing in the knowledge ball system 1a is terminated.

  Here, a process performed by the context structure control unit 22 in S28 when a context structure creation or change instruction is given in S27 will be described. For example, when the user right-clicks the mouse as the input device 2 in a state where the display based on the viewpoint position information that the user wants to set as the context point is made, the context structure control unit 22 displays a menu of operations that the user can select. To do. Then, when the user uses the mouse to select a context point creation command from this menu, the context structure control unit 22 causes the spatiotemporal information database 12 to store the viewpoint position information at that time as a context point.

  When the user right-clicks with the mouse as the input device 2 while moving the cursor displayed on the screen to the context and the point, the context structure control unit 22 causes the user to select an operation Display the menu of. Then, when the user selects a storyline creation command from this menu using the mouse and clicks the context point of the connection destination, the context structure control unit 22 creates a storyline that connects the two context points, The created story line is stored in the spatiotemporal information database 12 in association with the context point.

  Note that the context structure control unit 22 similarly changes (edits, deletes) the context points and the story line in response to an instruction from the user for the menu displayed as described above. This allows the user to set an arbitrary viewpoint position as a point. The user can also create a story line by connecting the points in an arbitrary order.

  If a zoom-up operation is performed in S27, the spherical surface control unit 19 displays one card so as to zoom up (S30), and the spatiotemporal information control unit 11 (spatiotemporal information control unit 11 Each control unit provided in step S3) determines whether the user has operated the input device 2 (S31). Here, when there is no operation by the user, the spatiotemporal information control unit 11 (each control unit provided in the spatiotemporal information control unit 11) waits for an operation from the user (continues the process of S31).

  On the other hand, when there is an operation by the user in S31, the spatiotemporal information control unit 11 performs the following processing according to the content of the operation.

  That is, when there is a card editing operation, the card editing screen is displayed by the card editor 16 (S32), the card is edited/recorded based on the user's input to the input device 2 (S33), and the card editing screen is displayed. Close (S34), and the process from S31 is performed again. When the zoom-up cancel operation is performed, the processing from S23 is performed again.

  Further, when there is a context selection instruction in S27, the context structure control unit 22 acquires the selected context (one context) from the spatiotemporal information database 12 and displays it (S35). The context selection instruction is given by, for example, the user clicking a context point included in the context. That is, when the user clicks on the context point, the context structure control unit 22 performs display based on the viewing angle position information of the clicked context point. At this time, the context structure control unit 22 displays an “automatic play” button and a “advance (manual play)” button on a part of the display screen.

  Then, the spatiotemporal information control unit 11 (each control unit provided in the spatiotemporal information control unit 11) waits for an operation by the user (S36), and responds to the operation when the operation is performed. Perform processing.

  When the "automatic reproduction" button is selected in S36, the spatiotemporal information control unit 11 starts the automatic presentation (S37). On the other hand, when the "advance" button is pressed, the spatiotemporal information control unit 11 starts the manual presentation (S38). When the context release operation is performed, the spatiotemporal information control unit 11 performs the processing from S23 again. The method of canceling the context is not particularly limited, but for example, it may be performed by clicking on the screen other than the "auto play" button or the "forward" button, or by right-clicking. A menu may be displayed so that the menu can be selected.

  Here, the operation of the automatic presentation (operation of S37) will be described. When the "automatic play" button is pressed in S36, the conversation agent control unit 14 gives a voice description of each context point according to the order of the explanatory note and the story line preset by the user. At this time, the conversation agent control unit 14 displays the character on the screen, and controls the display of the character according to the voice so that the character reads the annotation text. At this time, each control unit of the spatial information control unit 13 displays the viewpoint position information of each context point. FIG. 53 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the display screen at this time.

  Further, at the time of transition of each context point (when transitioning to the explanation of the next context point after reading the explanation corresponding to a certain context point), the conversation agent control unit 14 causes the above-mentioned character Show an animation of moving between context points while walking. FIG. 54 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the display screen at this time.

  Then, when the reproduction for all the context points is completed (or the “stop” button is pressed during the reproduction of the automatic presentation), the spatiotemporal information control unit 11 (each control provided in the spatiotemporal information control unit 11). Part) performs the process of S36 again.

  Next, the operation of the manual presentation (operation of S38) will be described. When the "Forward" button is pressed in S36, the conversation agent control unit 14 displays an animation in which the character moves to the next context point while walking on the intellectual ball. Then, the context structure control unit 22 performs display based on the viewing angle position information of the next context point. Further, in this case, the context structure control unit 22 causes the "Forward" button and the "Back" button to be displayed on a part of the display screen. The context structure control unit 22 may not display the “back” button at the context point at the beginning of the story line, and may not display the “forward” button at the context point at the end of the story line.

  This allows the user to manually move and display the context points by selecting the "back" or "forward" button at each context point. When the "return" button is pressed, the conversation agent control unit 14 displays an animation in which the character walks on the knowledge ball toward the previous context point.

  In this way, the movement between context points (movement of the viewpoint position) is expressed using a continuous animation regardless of manual or automatic, so that a presentation with spatial and temporal continuity as a context is presented. It can be carried out.

  As described above, in the intelligent ball system 1a according to the present embodiment, “a context mechanism that focuses on information arranged on the intelligent ball (in the three-dimensional space) by giving a range and an angle of information presentation” Is equipped with. That is, the intelligent ball system 1a is provided with a context mechanism that focuses an arbitrary space on a three-dimensional space (intellectual sphere) containing a large amount of information and enables continuous transition of the focal position.

  This makes it possible to give a narrative and three-dimensional information presentation by using a three-dimensional space (know ball) containing a large amount of information.

  That is, the presentation function in the conventional information management system has been limited to linear and planar story expression such as a slide show. Further, in the first embodiment, the story has only a temporal expression, and is always associated with the intellectual ball card. Further, in the intelligent ball system 1 described in the first embodiment, rotation and zooming can be arbitrarily performed according to a user's instruction, but in this case, it is intuitive if a lot of information is expressed on the intelligent ball. In some cases, it was difficult to identify the position.

  On the other hand, according to the intelligent ball system 1a, an arbitrary space can be focused on the three-dimensional space (intelligible sphere) containing a large amount of information, and continuous transition of the focal position can be performed. That is, in the present embodiment, it is possible to spatially present the entire image of the content or to present a continuous transition of the viewpoint (context point) depending on the context. This makes it possible to present a vast information space in a narrative and three-dimensional manner. Further, the ability of content presentation by a conversation agent (automatic presentation) and content presentation by a user himself (manual presentation) can be enhanced.

  The context mechanism in the present embodiment is a superordinate concept including the story structure in the first embodiment, and is a concept that spatially expands the story structure according to the first embodiment and is independent from the knowledge ball card. It can be said that there is.

In addition, the intelligent ball system 1a can be expressed as a system in which the following configurations (a) to (c) are added to the intelligent ball system 1 in the first embodiment.
(A) The current position of the intelligent ball and the enlargement ratio can be recorded as a snapshot by a snapshot. In addition, multiple snapshots (context points) can be recorded sequentially.
(B) Using a pull-down list or a method of clicking a mark, it is possible to restore from any position on the knowledge ball to the previous snapshot position.
(C) The conversation agent control unit 14 is configured to continuously operate the intellectual balls according to the above sequence and automatically perform continuous display according to the intention.

  Further, in the present embodiment, the intelligent ball system 1a including the context structure control unit 22 in place of the story structure control unit 17 in the intelligent ball system 1 of the first embodiment has been described, but the configuration of the intelligent ball system 1a is not limited to this. It is not limited. For example, the story structure control unit 17 and the context structure control unit 22 may both be provided. In that case, the user may be allowed to selectively execute the reproduction of the story structure described in the first embodiment and the reproduction of the context described in the present embodiment.

  Further, in the present embodiment, all the processes in the intelligent ball system 1a are performed by the control of the spatiotemporal information control unit 11. However, not limited to this, as in the first embodiment, an information processing device that records a program for performing these processes in a recording medium and can read the program is used instead of the spatiotemporal information control unit 11. You may do it.

[Embodiment 3]
Still another embodiment of the present invention will be described. In the present embodiment, in the intelligent ball system 1 shown in the first embodiment, the hierarchical structure is displayed using contour lines. For convenience of description, members (function blocks) having the same functions as those of the members (function blocks) described in the first embodiment will be denoted by the same reference numerals as those in the first embodiment, and description thereof will be omitted.

  In the knowledge ball system 1, one content is expressed by one knowledge ball card. This intelligent ball card has a texture (a thumbnail of content) and has an arbitrary size (width x height). Further, the knowledge ball card is arranged at an arbitrary position on the spherical surface. Further, each intelligent ball card is classified using the tree structure (structure having branches and nodes) as described above, and the branches forming this tree structure have four directions.

  However, if the card density is too high (for example, if there are about 10,000 intelligent ball cards), it may be difficult to distinguish the branches. In addition, when the number of intellectual ball cards to be displayed is large, the load on the display process (rendering) becomes high. For this reason, it is necessary to simplify the expression of the intelligent ball card and reduce the amount of calculation for display processing.

Here, as a method of visualizing data having a hierarchical structure, for example, a method of using a two-dimensional circle (Hong, “ZOOMLOGY: Comparing Two Large Hierarchical Trees”, 2003, http://www.cc.gatech) .Edu/ ^to hongjy/Zoomology/Zoomology.htm), a method using a rectangle (Benderson, “Pad++”, 1994, http://www.cs.umd./hcil/pad+++/), and a rectangular parallelepiped. (Rekimoto, “Information Cube”, 1993, http://www.csl.sony.co.jp/person/rekimoto/tube/), and the like have been proposed.

  However, in the method using a circle or a rectangle, the space utilization efficiency is low, and it is difficult to arrange a large amount of intelligent ball data so that their areas do not overlap each other.

  Therefore, contour lines may be displayed for each intelligent ball card. The "contour line" referred to here is (A) for all intelligent ball cards in which a closed curve surrounding a certain intelligent ball card (node) and all descendants (descendant nodes) of that intelligent ball card is included in the tree structure. (B) each closed curve has a smooth shape along the shape of each intelligent ball card to be surrounded and the branch connecting each intelligent ball card, and (C) each closed curve. Is designed not to intersect other closed curves. Specifically, for example, the spatio-temporal information control unit 11 (tree structure control unit 20), in order from the deepest level of the hierarchical structure to the root level, each intellectual ball card (a tree structure having each intelligent ball card as a parent ) Is obtained and displayed on the output device 3.

  FIG. 55 shows an example of the knowledge sphere and the hierarchical structure displayed on the knowledge sphere when the contour line is not displayed and when the contour line is displayed. As shown in this figure (on the right side of the figure), when displaying contour lines, the contour structure of the child card is displayed in the contour line including the parent card, thereby forming a nested structure.

  By thus expressing the hierarchical structure using contour lines, the user can easily understand the hierarchical structure. Further, it is more space efficient than the method of enclosing it with an ellipse or a rectangle.

  The spatio-temporal information control unit 11 (tree structure control unit 20) divides a group of data having a hierarchical structure into one mesh region with different contour lines (color or pattern is changed for each layer) and one mesh region. May be displayed as the texture (the topmost intelligent ball card in the hierarchical structure indicated by the mesh area). As a result, it is not necessary to display a large number of cards, and it suffices to perform a calculation for displaying one mesh area and one texture, so that the display processing can be reduced.

  Further, the spatiotemporal information control unit 11 (tree structure control unit 20) makes each mesh region have a higher altitude in the lower layers of the hierarchical structure according to the contour lines (the child has a higher altitude than the parent). As described above, the image may be displayed in a three-dimensional form. Further, in this case, the spatio-temporal information control unit 11 (tree structure control unit 20) displays the lowermost-layer intellectual ball card of each hierarchical structure by arranging it on the peak (top) drawn by making the contour lines three-dimensional. You may do so.

  In addition, when each mesh area is displayed in a three-dimensional manner as described above, since there is no peak at the position of the parent card, the spatiotemporal information control unit 11 (tree structure control unit 20) causes the parent card to display a leg image. You may make it display by adding. FIG. 56 shows an example of a knowledge ball and a hierarchical structure displayed on the knowledge ball when each mesh area is three-dimensionally displayed according to contour lines and displayed with legs attached to the parent card. FIG. 57 shows another display example of the intelligent ball in the case where each mesh area is three-dimensionally displayed according to the contour lines and displayed with the parent card with legs.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 58, when the spatiotemporal information control unit 11 (the tree structure control unit 20, the provided information amount control unit 18) zooms in and displays the knowledge ball, the contour line and the knowledge ball card are displayed, Since a large number of cards are included in the display area when the intellectual balls are zoomed out and displayed, only the contour lines may be displayed without displaying the intellectual ball cards. As a result, it is possible to further reduce the load related to the display processing of the intelligent ball card. The amount (hierarchical level) of intellectual balls displayed along with the contour lines may be changed according to the display magnification (degree of zoom-in) of the intelligent balls.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 59, the spatiotemporal information control unit 11 (tree structure control unit 20) may display each group of data having a hierarchical structure with a color as a label. In other words, if the area not included in any mesh area is the sea and the area included in any mesh area is the land, each land may be colored as a label.

  Further, the spatiotemporal information control unit 11 (tree structure control unit 20) may be allowed to arbitrarily set or change the size of the land according to an instruction from the user.

  Alternatively, the user may be allowed to combine this land with another land by dragging and dropping a point on the land. Further, a part of the hierarchical structure included in a certain land may be dragged and dropped so that a part of the hierarchical structure can be separated from the land. Further, as shown in FIG. 60, the tree structure control unit 20 may reflect the result of the connection/separation processing of the tree structures in real time as the connection/separation of the land.

  In order to solve the above problems, an information management system of the present invention includes a display unit that displays an image, a control unit that controls the image displayed on the display unit, and a storage unit that stores a plurality of content information. An information management system, comprising: an image showing the content information stored in the storage means, displayed on the display means, wherein the control means displays the three-dimensional sphere image on the display means and shows the content information. An image is displayed on the spherical surface of the three-dimensional spherical image.

  According to the above configuration, the content information can be arranged by taking advantage of spatial cues such as depth and left and right of the three-dimensional spherical image. We know the shape of the earth well, and the position on the sphere can be easily grasped as the latitude and longitude. Therefore, the three-dimensional spherical image is particularly suitable as an information arrangement space using a three-dimensional depth sensation. .

  The control means includes a display position input unit that receives an instruction input from the user regarding the display position of the image indicating the content information, and the control unit sets the display position of the image indicating the content information by the user by the instruction input. The configuration may be such that it is arranged at the position on the spherical surface specified in 1.

  As a result, externalized storage based on the user's own policy becomes possible, and a large amount of externalized storage can be stored and managed appropriately.

  The content information may include any one or more of voice data, character data, two-dimensional image data, three-dimensional image data, and time-expanded image data.

  According to the above configuration, for example, images, texts, sounds, time domain data, documents (brain texts, Word (registered trademark) documents, PDF documents, handwritten documents, etc.), photographs, movies (moving images), slides, Various electronic contents such as web pages can be stored as content information.

  Further, the control means may be configured to display an image including any one or more of an icon, an index character, an attribute, and a reduced image on the spherical surface as an image indicating the content information.

  According to the above configuration, the user can easily understand (remember) the content of the content information from the icon, the index character, the attribute, the reduced image, etc. displayed on the spherical surface.

  The control means may include input means for receiving the input of the content information, and the control means may be configured to cumulatively store the content information input to the input means in the storage means.

  According to the above configuration, the user can store the input content information in the storage unit by inputting the content information via the input unit. Therefore, the externalized memory stored as content information can be continuously developed.

  Further, the control means may be configured to classify the content information into a plurality of groups and display an image showing the content information in different areas on the spherical surface for each of the classified groups.

  According to the above configuration, by classifying the content information into a plurality of groups, the user can easily manage each content information.

  Further, it comprises a group input means for receiving information about a group for classifying each content information, and the control means stores the content information in the storage means in association with the information about the group input to the group input means. It may be configured to store. Here, the information about the group is, for example, information such as a display area of the content information belonging to the group, a name, and a display method of the content information.

  According to the above configuration, the user can manage the content information for each classified group based on the user's policy.

  Further, the control means may be configured to display a boundary line between an area for displaying an image showing the content information of each of the classified groups and an area around the area. For example, the control means may display the boundary line in a substantially circular shape or a substantially elliptical shape.

  According to the above configuration, since the boundary line between the display area of the content information of each group and the other area is displayed, the user can easily visually recognize each group.

  Further, the control means may be configured to arbitrarily set the number of groups into which the content information is classified.

  According to the above configuration, the user can classify each content information into any group according to the user's policy without being limited by the number of groups.

  Further, the group input means may accept a change instruction of a group for classifying the content information, and the control means may change a group for classifying the content information according to the change instruction.

  According to the above configuration, the user can arbitrarily change the group into which each content information is classified according to the user's policy.

  Further, the control means may be configured to change the display color of the display area of each group according to the number of pieces of content information included in each classified group.

  According to the above configuration, the user can grasp the number of pieces of content information included in each group based on the color of the display area.

  Further, the display means includes a display size input means for receiving a size change instruction of the display area of the classified group, and the control means is responsive to the size change instruction inputted through the display size input means. The size may be changed.

  According to the above configuration, the user can change the size of the display area of each group according to the policy of the user.

  Further, the content information included in each of the groups may have a tree structure. Here, the tree structure (hierarchical structure) is a structure in which one content information is branched one after another.

  According to the above configuration, by classifying the content information using a tree structure that is generally used as an information classification method and is used by many people, the user can group each content information into a meaningful group. Can be viewed as a group.

  In addition, the control means may be configured to display an image of the content information in the upper layer among the content information forming the tree structure, with an image of the leg extending from the spherical surface attached.

  According to the above configuration, the user can easily understand the content information in the upper layer.

  Further, the control means, for each content information constituting the tree structure, an area for displaying an image showing the content information in the upper layer and an image showing the content information in the lower layer with respect to the content information, A configuration may be used in which a boundary line that partitions the display area around the area is displayed.

  According to the above configuration, since the boundary line between the display area of each tree structure and the other area is displayed, the user can easily visually recognize each tree structure.

  Further, the control means sets an area surrounded by the boundary line inside a boundary line of a display area including an image showing content information of a higher hierarchy than an image showing content information of a highest hierarchy in the area. It may be configured to display. That is, a display area including a child (second hierarchy) and a grandchild (third hierarchy) is displayed in a display area including a parent (first hierarchy) and a child (second hierarchy), and the child (second hierarchy) is displayed. Each layer in the tree structure is a so-called nested structure in which a display area including a grandchild (third layer) and a great-grandchild (fourth layer) is displayed in a display area including a layer) and a grandchild (third layer). You may set the display area of.

  According to the above configuration, the user can grasp the depth of the tree structure by the boundary line surrounding the display area of each layer.

  Further, the control means may be configured to change the color of the boundary line according to the hierarchy in the tree structure of the content information displayed in the area surrounded by each boundary line.

  According to the above configuration, the user can easily understand the hierarchy in the tree structure of the area surrounded by the boundary lines.

  Further, the control means may be configured to store time-series information indicating an order in which the content information is input via the input means, in the storage means.

  According to the above configuration, the time series information indicating the order in which each content information is input is stored in the storage unit, so that the user can observe the transition of the externalized memory construction from the past to the present.

  Further, when the content information is displayed continuously, the story input means for accepting the input of the time series information indicating the display order of each content information is provided, and the control means stores the time series information accepted by the story input means. Alternatively, the storage means may store the data.

  According to the above configuration, the user can arbitrarily set the display order of the content information when the content information is continuously displayed. Thereby, for example, when the user gives a presentation using the content information stored in the storage unit, each content information can be displayed in an arbitrary order.

  Further, the control means may be configured to display an image having directivity indicating the time series information on the display means.

  According to the above configuration, the user can visually recognize the order in which the content information is input, or the display order of the content information when the content information is continuously displayed, by the image displayed on the spherical surface. You can

  Further, the control means may be configured to display a content image, which is an image corresponding to the image data included in the content information, on the display means in the order based on the time-series information. That is, based on the order in which the content information is input (story), or the display order (story) of each content information when the content information is continuously displayed, the control means includes images included in each content information. The content images corresponding to may be sequentially displayed (reproduced).

  With the above configuration, for example, the user can objectively view the story created by himself/herself as if he/she is watching a television program. You can also show your story to multiple people.

  The control means includes a voice output means for outputting voice information, wherein the control means converts the character information included in each content information into voice information in an order based on the time-series information, and converts the converted voice information into the voice information. It is also possible to have a configuration in which audio is output from the audio output means.

  According to the above configuration, the control unit controls the contents based on the order in which the content information is input (story) or the display order (story) of the content information when the content information is continuously displayed. When the images included in the information are sequentially displayed (reproduced), the character information included in each content information can be output by voice.

  Further, the control means may cause the display means to display an image of a character reading the voice information.

  According to the above configuration, the consistency of the story can be emphasized by displaying each content information so that one presenter (character) reads it out.

  Further, when changing the content image to be displayed, the control means changes the image on the spherical surface from the image showing the content information corresponding to the content image before the change to the image showing the content information corresponding to the content image after the change. The image of the character moving toward may be displayed on the display means.

  According to the above configuration, by providing one presenter (character) who moves between the images indicating the content information to the images indicating the content information that are scatteredly located on the spherical surface, the consistency of the story can be improved. Can be emphasized.

  Further, the display means is provided with a display angle input means for receiving an instruction regarding a display angle of the three-dimensional spherical image displayed on the display means, and the control means is responsive to the instruction input via the display angle input means. The sphere image and the image showing the content information displayed on the spherical surface of the three-dimensional sphere image may be integrally rotated and displayed.

  According to the above configuration, the user can arbitrarily set the display angle of the three-dimensional spherical image displayed on the display unit, that is, the observation angle of the three-dimensional spherical image (viewpoint position with respect to the three-dimensional spherical image). Therefore, spatial cues such as depth and left and right of the three-dimensional spherical image can be used more effectively, and a large amount of external memory can be accumulated and managed more appropriately.

  Further, the control means includes display size input means for receiving a size change instruction of the three-dimensional sphere image, and the control means displays the three-dimensional sphere image in accordance with a size change instruction input via the display size input means. The size may be changed.

  With the above configuration, the display size of the three-dimensional sphere image can be arbitrarily changed. Therefore, for example, the entire three-dimensional spherical image can be overlooked or partially focused. As a result, a larger amount of content information (external storage) can be arranged on the spherical surface of the three-dimensional spherical image, and each content information or the periphery of each content information can be focused and displayed as necessary.

  Further, the display means includes a display angle input means for receiving an instruction regarding a display angle of the three-dimensional sphere image displayed on the display means, and a display size input means for receiving an instruction for changing the size of the three-dimensional sphere image, the control means comprising: In response to the instruction input via the display angle input means, the image showing the content information displayed on the spherical surface of the three-dimensional sphere image and the three-dimensional sphere image, is displayed by rotating integrally. The display size of the three-dimensional sphere image may be changed according to a size change instruction input via the display size input means.

  According to the above configuration, the user can arbitrarily set the display angle of the three-dimensional spherical image displayed on the display unit, that is, the observation angle of the three-dimensional spherical image (viewpoint position with respect to the three-dimensional spherical image). Therefore, spatial cues such as depth and left and right of the three-dimensional sphere image can be effectively used, and a large amount of external memory can be accumulated and managed more preferably. Further, since the display size of the three-dimensional spherical image can be arbitrarily changed, for example, the entire three-dimensional spherical image can be overlooked or partially focused. As a result, a larger amount of content information (external storage) can be arranged on the spherical surface of the three-dimensional spherical image, and each content information or the periphery of each content information can be focused and displayed as necessary.

  Further, the control means may be configured to change the display size of the image showing the content information and/or the number of images showing the content information to be displayed according to the display size of the three-dimensional spherical image.

  According to the above configuration, the display size of the image showing the content information and/or the number of images showing the content information to be displayed is changed according to the display size of the three-dimensional spherical image. For example, a more detailed image of the content information and a larger title are displayed as the user zooms in, and the detail level of the image/title display of the content information decreases as the user zooms out. As a result, when zooming out, the number of images showing the content information that can be simultaneously displayed on the three-dimensional spherical image is increased, and when zooming out, the image showing the content information near the focus can be displayed in detail. it can. In addition, for example, when a three-dimensional spherical image is reduced (zoomed out) and displayed, a large number of images indicating content information are included in the display area, and thus the number of images to be displayed may be reduced.

  Further, the control means includes an instruction input means for receiving an instruction for storing the display angle and the display size of the three-dimensional spherical image, and the control means controls the display means when the instruction is input to the instruction input means. The display angle and the display size of the displayed three-dimensional sphere image may be stored in the storage unit as context points.

  According to the above configuration, when the instruction is input to the instruction input means, the control means stores the display angle and the display size of the three-dimensional spherical image displayed on the display means at that time as the context point. To memorize. With this, the user can immediately reproduce the display angle and the display size of the three-dimensional sphere image when the above-mentioned instruction is input to the instruction input means by reproducing the context point stored in the storage means. .. Therefore, the user can immediately reproduce the desired display angle and display size of the three-dimensional spherical image.

  The instruction input means receives an instruction to create a directional storyline that connects one of the context points and another context point, and the control means determines each context point connected by the storyline. The storage means may be configured to store in association with the order according to the directivity of the story line.

  According to the above configuration, the user can connect a plurality of context points with a directional story line. Thereby, the context points connected as described above can be reproduced in the order according to the directivity of the story line. Therefore, for example, when the user gives a presentation using the context points stored in the storage unit, images corresponding to the context points can be displayed in an arbitrary order.

  Further, the control means may be configured to display an image showing the context point and the story line on the spherical surface.

  According to the above configuration, the user can visually recognize the context point and the story line displayed on the spherical surface.

  Further, the control unit may include a selection instruction input unit that receives a selection instruction of an image indicating the context point, and the control unit may display an image corresponding to the context point selected by the selection instruction on the display unit. ..

  According to the above configuration, the user can arbitrarily select the context point to be displayed via the selection instruction input means. Therefore, a desired context point can be arbitrarily selected and immediately reproduced.

  Further, the control means may be configured to display an image corresponding to the context point on the display means in an order according to the directivity of the story line.

  According to the above configuration, the control means causes the display means to display the images according to the context points in the order according to the directivity of the story line. Thereby, for example, the user can objectively view the story created by himself/herself as if he/she watches a television program. You can also show your story to multiple people.

  Further, the audio data output means for outputting audio information is provided, and the control means associates each of the context points with content information corresponding to an image showing any content image displayed on the spherical surface, and the storage means. In addition to displaying the images corresponding to the context points on the display means in the order according to the directivity of the story line, the character information included in the content information associated with each context point is voice information. The voice information may be converted into the voice information and the voice information may be output from the voice output means.

  According to the above configuration, when the images corresponding to the context points are sequentially displayed (reproduced) in the order according to the directivity of the storyline, the character information included in the content information associated with each context point is displayed. You can output a voice.

  Further, the control means may be configured to display an image of a character reading the voice information on the display means.

  According to the above configuration, by displaying the content information associated with each context point so that one presenter (character) reads it aloud, it is possible to emphasize the consistency of the story.

  Further, the images displayed on the display means, which correspond to the context points, are changed in the order along the directivity direction of the story line, or the images are displayed along the direction opposite to the directivity direction of the story line. A change order input means for receiving an instruction as to whether to change in order is provided, and the control means causes the display means to display an image corresponding to the context point in accordance with the instruction input to the change order input means. It may be configured.

  According to the above configuration, the user can switch the image displayed on the display unit to the image corresponding to the next context point or the image corresponding to the previous context point at any timing. it can.

  Further, the control means displays an image showing the context point and the story line on the spherical surface, and displays the image on the display means. When changing the image according to the context point, the context point before the change is displayed. The image of the character moving on the spherical surface from the image showing "to" to the image showing the changed context point may be displayed on the display means.

  According to the above configuration, the consistency of the story is emphasized by giving one presentator (character) who moves between the context points to the image showing the context points that are scattered on the spherical surface. be able to.

  The control means may be configured to display the information stored in the storage means on a plurality of display means connected via a network.

  According to the above configuration, the control unit displays the information stored in the storage unit on the plurality of display units connected via the network. Thereby, for example, an electronic conference room can be opened using a plurality of display units connected via a network.

  Further, it may be configured to include a communication input unit that receives an input of the content information or an instruction to the control unit from another device connected via a network.

  According to the above configuration, it is possible to input content information or give an instruction to the control means from another device connected via the network. Therefore, the information management system can be utilized as groupware that connects individuals and groups.

  Further, the control means may be configured to include an import means for importing content created on another system as the content information or a part of the content information.

  According to the above configuration, the content created by another system (external editor) can be taken in as the content information or a part of the content information. Thereby, more diverse content information can be stored.

  Further, the content information included in each group has a tree structure, and the control means is a closed curve that surrounds an image showing each content information and an image showing each content information in a lower hierarchy of each content information. In order to prevent each closed curve from crossing other closed curves, the closed curve surrounding the image showing the content information and the image showing the content information in a smooth shape along the branch connecting in accordance with the hierarchical relationship is formed. It may be configured to be displayed in. This allows the user to easily understand the hierarchical structure.

  Further, the control means displays the area within the closed curve by changing the color or pattern for each hierarchy of the tree structure, and selects one of the images showing the content information according to the hierarchy in the tree structure. It may be configured to display only the image of a set. As a result, it is not necessary to display an image showing a large amount of content information, and display processing can be reduced.

  Further, the control means may be configured to stereoscopically display an area partitioned by the closed curve such that a lower hierarchy area has a higher height from the spherical surface. This allows the user to intuitively understand the hierarchical structure.

  In order to solve the above problems, an information management method of the present invention is an information management method of storing content information and displaying an image showing the stored content information, and displaying a three-dimensional spherical image, and An image showing the stored content information is displayed on the spherical surface of the three-dimensional spherical image.

  According to the above method, the content information can be arranged by utilizing spatial cues such as the depth and the left and right of the three-dimensional spherical image. As a result, externalized storage based on the user's own policy becomes possible, and a large amount of externalized storage can be stored and managed appropriately.

  The information management program of the present invention is for causing a computer to execute the processing of the control means in any of the above information management systems.

  By making a computer read these programs, the processing of the control means in the information management system of the present invention can be realized by the computer.

  Further, by recording these programs in a computer-readable recording medium, it becomes possible to easily store and distribute the programs. Further, by reading this recording medium, the processing of the control means in the information management system of the present invention can be executed by the computer.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications can be made within the scope of the claims, and the embodiments obtained by appropriately combining the technical means disclosed in the different embodiments. Is also included in the technical scope of the present invention.

  INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY The present invention can be applied to a system in which information is required to be stored and can be browsed. In particular, it is suitable for a system for accumulating and browsing a person's memory such as thinking support, knowledge sharing, and communication support (blog). It can also be used as file management software or a shared whiteboard.

Claims (47)

The display means for displaying an image, the control means for controlling the image displayed on the display means, and the storage means for storing a plurality of content information are provided, and the image showing the content information stored in the storage means is displayed by the display means. Information management system to display on
The control means is
An information management system characterized by displaying a three-dimensional sphere image on the display means and displaying an image showing the content information on a spherical surface of the three-dimensional sphere image. A display position input means for receiving an instruction input from the user about the display position of the image showing the content information,
The control means is
The information management system according to claim 1, wherein the display position of the image showing the content information is arranged at a position on the spherical surface arbitrarily designated by the user by the instruction input.   The information management system according to claim 1, wherein the content information includes at least one of voice data, character data, two-dimensional image data, three-dimensional image data, and time-expanded image data. The control means is
The information management system according to claim 1, wherein an image including any one or more of an icon, an index character, an attribute, and a reduced image is displayed on the spherical surface as the image indicating the content information. An input means for receiving the input of the content information is provided,
The control means is
The information management system according to claim 1, wherein the content information input to the input unit is cumulatively stored in the storage unit. The control means is
The information management system according to claim 1, wherein the content information is classified into a plurality of groups, and images showing the content information are displayed in different areas on the spherical surface for each of the classified groups. A group input means for receiving information about a group for classifying each of the content information,
The control means is
7. The information management system according to claim 6, wherein the content information is stored in the storage unit in association with the information about the group input to the group input unit. The control means is
The information management system according to claim 6, wherein a boundary line between an area displaying an image showing the content information of each of the classified groups and an area surrounding the area is displayed. The control means is
The information management system according to claim 8, wherein the boundary line is displayed in a substantially circular shape or a substantially elliptical shape. The control means is
7. The information management system according to claim 6, wherein the number of groups into which the content information is classified can be set arbitrarily. The group input means receives an instruction to change the group into which the content information is classified,
The information management system according to claim 7, wherein the control unit changes a group for classifying the content information items in accordance with the change instruction. The control means is
7. The information management system according to claim 6, wherein the display color of the display area of each group is changed according to the number of pieces of content information included in each classified group. A display size input means for receiving a size change instruction of the display area of the classified group,
The control means is
7. The information management system according to claim 6, wherein the size of the display area of the group is changed in accordance with a size change instruction input via the display size input means.   The information management system according to claim 6, wherein the content information included in each group has a tree structure. The control means is
15. The information management system according to claim 14, wherein an image showing the content information in the upper layer of each content information forming the tree structure is displayed with an image of a leg extending from the spherical surface. .. The control means is
An area for displaying an image showing content information in the upper layer and an image showing content information in the lower layer with respect to each content information forming the tree structure is a display area around the area. The information management system according to claim 14, wherein a boundary line that divides is displayed. The control means is
An area surrounded by the boundary line is displayed inside a boundary line of a display area including an image showing content information of a higher hierarchy than an image showing content information of a highest hierarchy in the area. The information management system according to claim 16. The control means is
18. The information management system according to claim 17, wherein the color of the boundary line is changed according to the hierarchy in the tree structure of the content information displayed in the area surrounded by each boundary line. The control means is
The information management system according to claim 5, wherein the storage unit stores time-series information indicating an order in which the content information is input via the input unit. In order to continuously display the content information, a story input means for receiving input of time series information indicating the display order of each content information is provided,
The control means is
The information management system according to claim 1, wherein the time-series information received by the story input means is stored in the storage means. The control means is
21. The information management system according to claim 19, wherein an image having directivity indicating the time series information is displayed on the display means. The control means is
21. The information management system according to claim 19, wherein a content image, which is an image corresponding to image data included in each of the content information, is displayed on the display means in an order based on the time-series information. Equipped with a voice output means for outputting voice information,
The control means is
The character information included in each of the content information is converted into audio information in an order based on the time-series information, and the converted audio information is output as audio from the audio output means. Information management system. The control means is
The information management system according to claim 23, wherein an image of a character reading the voice information is displayed on the display means. The control means is
When changing the content image to be displayed, the image of the character moving on the spherical surface from the image showing the content information corresponding to the content image before the change to the image showing the content information corresponding to the content image after the change 23. The information management system according to claim 22, wherein is displayed on the display means. A display angle input means for receiving an instruction regarding a display angle of the three-dimensional sphere image displayed on the display means,
The control means is
In response to an instruction input via the display angle input means, the three-dimensional sphere image and the image showing the content information displayed on the spherical surface of the three-dimensional sphere image are integrally rotated and displayed. The information management system according to claim 1, wherein: A display size input means for receiving a size change instruction of the three-dimensional sphere image,
The control means is
The information management system according to claim 1, wherein the display size of the three-dimensional sphere image is changed in accordance with a size change instruction input via the display size input means. Display angle input means for receiving an instruction regarding the display angle of the three-dimensional spherical image displayed on the display means,
A display size input means for receiving a size change instruction of the three-dimensional sphere image,
The control means is
In accordance with an instruction input via the display angle input means, the three-dimensional sphere image and the image showing the content information displayed on the spherical surface of the three-dimensional sphere image are integrally rotated and displayed. ,
The information management system according to claim 1, wherein the display size of the three-dimensional sphere image is changed in accordance with a size change instruction input via the display size input means. The control means is
29. The display size of an image showing the content information and/or the number of images showing the content information to be displayed is changed according to the display size of the three-dimensional sphere image. Information management system. An inputting means for receiving an instruction for storing the display angle and the display size of the three-dimensional spherical image,
The control means is
The display angle and the display size of the three-dimensional sphere image displayed on the display means are stored in the storage means as context points when the instruction is input to the instruction input means. 28. An information management system according to item 28. The instruction input means receives an instruction to create a directional story line that connects one of the context points to another context point,
The control means is
31. The information management system according to claim 30, wherein each context point connected by the story line is stored in the storage unit in association with an order according to the directivity of the story line. The control means is
The information management system according to claim 31, wherein an image showing the context point and the story line is displayed on the spherical surface. A selection instruction input means for receiving an instruction to select an image showing the context point,
The control means is
33. The information management system according to claim 32, wherein an image corresponding to the context point selected by the selection instruction is displayed on the display means. The control means is
32. The information management system according to claim 31, wherein images according to the context points are displayed on the display means in an order according to the directivity of the story line. Equipped with a voice output means for outputting voice information,
The control means is
Storing each of the context points in the storage means in association with content information corresponding to an image showing any content information displayed on the spherical surface,
In the order according to the directivity of the story line, while displaying the image corresponding to the context point on the display means, the character information included in the content information associated with each context point is converted into voice information, The information management system according to claim 34, wherein the converted voice information is output as voice from the voice output means. The control means is
The information management system according to claim 35, wherein an image of a character reading the voice information is displayed on the display means. The images corresponding to the context points displayed on the display means are changed in the order along the direction of the story line, or in the order opposite to the direction of the story line. A change order input means for receiving an instruction as to whether
The control means is
The information management system according to claim 34, wherein an image corresponding to the context point is displayed on the display unit in response to an instruction input to the change order input unit. The control means is
Display the image showing the context point and the story line on the spherical surface,
When changing the image corresponding to the context point displayed on the display means, an image of the character moving on the spherical surface from the image showing the context point before the change to the image showing the context point after the change, 34. The information management system according to claim 33, which is displayed on the display means. The control means is
The information management system according to claim 1, wherein the information stored in the storage means is displayed on a plurality of display means connected via a network.   The information management system according to claim 1, further comprising a communication input unit that receives an input of the content information or an instruction input to the control unit from another device connected via a network. The control means is
The information management system according to claim 1, further comprising an importing unit for importing content created on another system as the content information or a part of the content information. The content information included in each group has a tree structure,
The control means is
It is a closed curve surrounding an image showing each content information and an image showing each content information in a lower layer of the content information, and connects the image showing each content information and the image showing each content information according to a hierarchical relationship. 7. The information management system according to claim 6, wherein the closed curves that surround the closed branch so as to form a smooth shape are displayed so that each closed curve does not intersect with another closed curve. The control means is
The area within the closed curve is displayed by changing the color or pattern for each hierarchy of the tree structure,
43. The information management system according to claim 42, wherein among the images showing the respective content information, only some of the images are displayed according to the hierarchy in the tree structure. The control means is
43. The information management system according to claim 42, wherein an area partitioned by the closed curve is displayed three-dimensionally so that a lower hierarchy area has a higher height from the spherical surface. An information management method for storing content information and displaying an image showing the stored content information,
While displaying a three-dimensional sphere image,
An information management method comprising displaying an image showing the stored content information on a spherical surface of the three-dimensional spherical image.   An information management program for causing a computer to execute the processing of the control means in the information management system according to any one of claims 1 to 44.   A computer-readable recording medium recording the information management program according to claim 46.

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